


Honoring Their Sacrifice

by wandwaving



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Character Bashing, Character Death, M/M, Mentions of past abuse, Mpreg, Romance, Top Harry, bottom!Draco, intent to rape, torture (mild)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-29
Updated: 2013-05-31
Packaged: 2017-12-06 20:41:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 53,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/739948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wandwaving/pseuds/wandwaving
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What do you do when everything you thought to believe as the truth, was in fact all a lie?<br/>With the odds of your success low do you take yourself out of the game? Or do you rise up and take all that belongs to you? Even if it includes a husband and more power than you know what you do with? (very a/u, occ, slash)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Most characters do not belong to me; I'm just taking them out for a lovely spin. No copyright infringement is intended.
> 
> Warnings: This story will contain slash (M/M), mpreg, and character bashing. Mentions of past abuse, the intent to rape someone, torture (mild) and character deaths.
> 
> If someone seems OOC to you, please remember that this is fan fiction, not the real thing.
> 
> Canon up to Sirius falling through the veil at the Department of Ministry, which it then takes a sharp turn left and follows the plot in my own head.
> 
> To make certain things fit better, and because it's the way I want to write this, this fic will be up to date with real life things: cell phones, music, computer wise, etc.
> 
> Also, to help with my story line a few characters have their ages changed a bit-
> 
> Narcissa Black (later Malfoy) & Lucius Malfoy instead of being five (or so) years older than Severus Snape, the marauders and Lily Evens (later Potter), they will all have been the same age and in the same year at school.
> 
> Harry Potter's birthday and age stays the same, he just turns 17 at the start of this. However, Draco Malfoy will be a few months younger. He is only 16 at the start of this and will turn 17 on... well you'll find that out ;)
> 
> Thank you to the betas over at Project Team Beta for looking over this chapter!

 

"Son, are you sure that's who you saw?" Seeing his son nod his head yes, it was all he could do not to tear out his hair in frustration. How could it come to this? Fate couldn't be this cruel, could she?

All sorts of plans started rushing into his brain, but he felt so lost that not one seemed like it could be successfully put into action. How would they be able to make this work? They had to come up with something; his son's life was on the line!  _And mine as well, if the Dark Lord finds out_  he thought to himself. Well, they did have a few options - kidnapping him is always an easy fall back, but that might not work the way they meant for it to. As he was pacing in front of the fireplace thinking, his family was doing the same, desperately trying to find some way to salvage this. From the corner of his eye, his son stopped his own pacing.

"Son, do you have an idea in mind? If so, please share."

"Father, we need to be able to talk to him, but it's not like we can just invite him over for tea and a chat. But he might listen if we showed up at his house with a gift, a gift grand enough that he won't start hexing us until after we speak with him."

"That sounds like a great idea, but what kind of gift would be enough for him from us?"

"Easy. We give something he's longing for. Or rather someone."

"The only someone I could think of that would be enough, would be his parents. And they are dead, you do remember that, don't you boy?"

His son just smirked at him. "Yes, of course, Father. But he had a godfather that he cared deeply about. His godfather isn't dead, he fell into the veil, remember? And if you also remember, a person can be brought back from beyond the veil safely by someone of their blood line."

It was like the world stopped for a moment and everything fell into place. Yes, yes. They just might be able to make this work. And hopefully also all come out alive.

"Go and find your Mother, we have work to do."

* * *

Harry looked down at his newest tattoo with a huge grin, it took almost all the money he had saved over the past year but to him it was money very well spent. He was glad it was done and he could finally get up, sitting for hours on end was hardly his idea of fun. The man that had done all his tattoo's to date looked at him with a grin and teased, "Well Harry, is this it or will you be in next week with another drawing, demanding more of my time?" Harry laughed while twisting around to look in the mirror. "You did a great job Mike, I can't thank you enough." Mike looked at Harry's chest and asked the question that had been on his mind since he first saw the drawings Harry made for this one. "So, are you ever going to tell me the meaning behind this one?" Harry looked sad for a moment but replied "I think after all the long hours you worked on it, you deserve to know. The piece represents a few people I hold very close to my heart."

Pointing to the flower over his heart, "This lily is for my mom, that was her name; Lily." He moved to the animal next to it and tells Mike the stag is in remembrance of his father, that the big black dog was for his beloved Godfather, and that the wolf was for the last remaining parental figure he had left. "And the words above them Memento Vivere mean remember to live." Mike smiled at him and let him know how wonderful he thought the meaning behind the tattoo was. After chatting a little bit more, Harry went to pay and headed back to his relatives house, hoping he wasn't running too late.

Not long after he left he was walking up to the front door at 4 Privet Drive with a smile on his face and a light spring in his step. He was so glad his aunt and uncle left on that month long cruise and left him and his cousin home alone. Ever since Harry saved Dudley from the Dementors' attack (thanks to that bitch, Dolores Umbridge) two years ago, things changed between them: they started writing to each other while in school, without his aunt and uncle knowing, and had gotten much closer. Both boys had been thrilled to learn they would be alone for the month and planned many things to do together. It was only two weeks into their vacation and already the boys had been so busy. They had been going to the local gym every day, since Harry didn't want to get out of shape after working secretly so hard every day at Hogwarts in the room of requirement, and Dudley got to keep up his boxing training. So it was a win-win for both boys. A few days got spent in the mall getting them both new wardrobes (thank you Aunt Petunia for the credit card and telling Dudley to get whatever his heart desired, not expecting he would buy his cousin anything), and just hanging out enjoying the free time.

One day while passing an eye glasses store, Harry remembered the eye correction potion he saw in a wizard catalogue he had at home and sent Hedwig off with the order form as soon as they got home. He received the potion two days later and took it that night, so it could work while he was sleeping, like the bottle said. Waking up being able to see without his god awful glasses was a wonderful feeling. Almost every night the two cousins sat for long hours talking to each other and catching up on things they missed out on during the year or didn't go into detail about in their letters. Dudley told Harry about not dropping boxing like his father wanted him to, his fear that his dad would make him and his thoughts on being gay and would his parents ever be ok with it (not bloody likely they both agreed). In return Harry talked for hours about how much he still missed Sirius, his regret at not being able to bring him back yet and how he wished Remus was around more and not off on Order business all the time. He also told Dudley more about his self-training and why he was still keeping it a secret from just about everyone. He wasn't sure who was really his friend and who wasn't, Ron stopped talking to him when he found out he was gay and wasn't going to be marrying Ginny, and Hermione took Ron's side saying that it just wasn't normal and right. It had hurt him deeply to lose them both and still made his heart ache at times, but mostly he was angry about it.

He started training after that horrible day when he found out the prophecy that Dumbledore kept from him, the prophecy that made it clear it was him and him alone that would be up against Voldemort in the end. Dumbledore had told him no, he would not allow Harry to train, that he had no need for it and that he would be more than ready when the time came. Harry knew he wasn't nowhere near ready so when school started back up after the summer he began going to the ROM after classes a few times a week to work on hexes and reading up on spells not normally taught. One book had told explained that a good defence was to never stay still and to keep moving, giving your opponent a harder target to hit. Reading that made him notice that he'd have to work out to give himself the stamina needed, so he started running, swimming and using the Muggle weights the room provided him with. After months of hard work he was in the best shape of his life and was pretty proud and happy with his new toned body. However he kept it a secret from most of the school using strong glamours that made him look like he hadn't changed at all.

Of course, as things normally go, he wasn't able to hide it from everyone. One day in the dorms he had forgotten and went right into the showers without the glamours on. Luck was on his side and the only one up at the time was Neville Longbottom, who was the only one in his dorm room that was still willing to talk to him and treat him normally. After finding out what Harry was up to and swearing not to tell anyone, Neville asked to join Harry and became his training partner, working just as hard as Harry and grew to enjoy it just as much. Dudley had been shocked that no one thought to help train him and brought up the question of why that was. Did they not want him to win? The more Harry thought about that, more and more questions came to mind and he started to question the actions of Albus Dumbledore. But he wasn't going to think any more on that tonight, for tonight he had a party waiting for him. A party just for him!

As he walked inside the house he was able to tell that thankfully he wasn't late at all, and still had some time to take a quick shower and change before people started arriving. He still had no clue who would be showing up as Dudley had taken care of the guest list himself. He had only asked for three people to be invited but was pretty sure only two of them would show up. He rushed up the stairs talking two at time while yelling to his cousin that he would be back down shortly. Stripping off his clothes as soon as he entered the bathroom he took a quick shower, taking special care on washing his hair in hopes that it would behave more than usual. After finishing up he wrapped a towel around his waist and went into his room to get dressed, singing Happy Birthday to himself softly as he looked in the closet he had yet to notice that he wasn't as alone in his room as he thought. When he dropped his towel to step into his boxers he heard a loud cough and someone muttering "oh Merlin" behind him, with a loud gasp he spun around and was shocked to see his two (new) best friends sitting on his bed. Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood sat before him on his bed, one blushing while covering her eyes and the other laughing loudly at him while he stood naked in front of him. His shock quickly turned into happiness that they came, part of him had been nervous that they wouldn't come to his muggle house even with them saying they would come any time invited. Neville and Luna had accepted Harry's offer to stay for a few days and he was looking forward to hanging out with them outside of school.

After some jokes about him being naked, his friends told him they would see him downstairs and left him to get dressed. He picked out a new pair of skin tight black jeans that a flirty shop keeper had told him he looked edible in, and paired them with a dark green vest that he was going to wear open, showing off his new tattoo and of course the abs that he worked hours upon hours on. After running his fingers through his hair, deciding it wasn't worth it trying to fix it since it would just end up messed up in no time, he declared himself ready and went back down to wait for the other guests to arrive.

A few hours later the party was in full swing, the music was loud with a beat that rocked the house, the food tasted amazing and the liquor was just as good. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. Harry was a little put out that Remus hadn't shown up but he knew Remus was most likely doing Order work and would have wanted to come if he'd been able to.

Harry was having the best birthday party ever; he danced, drank, ate, and hung out with his friends for hours. Some people had left when the hour started getting late, but still a nice sized bunch stayed behind, hoping to stay until they passed out or got kicked out. A small group of people had made it to the back yard and Dudley was trying to teach them a drinking game he learned called beer pong. Luna shocked them all by being really good at it, while Harry found out that he was total rubbish and ended up drinking all the cups on his side when he went up against her. He was just drinking the last cup when he heard someone knocking on the door. He looked over to Dudley and asked who he thought it could be and Dudley grinned and said he hoped it was the male stripper he hired for Harry's birthday. Laughing, Harry went back into the house with Neville, Luna and Dudley following him, all trying to say something but, having had as many drinks as he had, he wasn't able to understand them as they talked over one another. He swung the door wide open and stared in shock at who it was. All he was able to do was gasp and stutter out "Well Dudley, it's for sure not the stripper."

* * *

A small group of wizards and witches portkeyed to the front of the Dursley's house, on the outside of the wards. All of them hung back, while one took out his wand and tested the wards to see if they could get past them. The man didn't seem to like what he found, as he frowned and cast again. After a third time he gave up and turned to his companions with an angry look and told them, "Well, we can get in, it seems like the wards are very basic and only stop people that mean Potter harm from entering. No ward against the Dark Mark, or even Voldemort himself. I'm appalled at the lack of protection for the boy; we'll have to set our own up after we get inside." Looking back at the others with a nod, he stepped past the wards and right away stopped at hearing the loud music coming from within the house. Clever Potter to put up charms to stop his neighbours from hearing, he thought to himself. He waited for the others to join him and was amused at the looks they got when they noticed that some kind of party was going on. Not caring nor not wanting to prolong this trip because of some party the boy was having, he walked to the door and knocked loudly, stepping back to wait for someone to open the door.

A few moments later they all heard loud voices coming from behind the door.

"Bloody strippers, always late!"

"Harry wait, glamours up, it might be you know, one of us." On the other side of the door, this got some raised eyebrows and questionable looks.

"Nev, don't be silly! The only other one he invited is Remus and he already knows what Harry looks like." Outside there were a few more raised eyebrows at this, while Remus blushed guiltily and looked away from the looks he was receiving.

"Harry, I swear to God you better not hog all the hot ones, you greedy bastard! Birthday boy or not, leave some blokes for the rest of us."

"I still think one of us should open the door and make sure it's a - you know - a Muggle."

At that, the door was flung open and a smiling and very different looking Harry Potter opened his mouth to greet them. However he wasn't able to get many words out once he saw who was in front, seeing that man standing at the door of his house; all he could do was stutter and tell his cousin that it wasn't the stripper. When it looked like Potter was getting over his shock and was about to start hexing first and asking questions later, the man put his foot in the door and with both hands raised showing his wand was put away he calmly spoke to the boy, "Potter, if we swear on our magic not to harm you or anyone in your house will you just let us in to talk and explain why we are here?"

Harry, after drinking all night wasn't as clear headed as he wished he was, still seeing no wands in sight made him pause and think for a brief moment. If willing to swear on their magic, what harm could be done? Harry didn't know if it was because it was his birthday and he was in a great mood, or if it was because he had been drinking, or if maybe it was the odd look on his teacher's face but he said: "Alright, if you swear it, you can come in." Harry and the others heard six voices spoken as one as they said "I swear on my magic not to harm or let harm come to Harry James Potter or any of his guests."

* * *

After hearing them swear, he remembered just what was going on inside the house, and with a remorseful glance at his cousin, he said: "Dudley, I loved the party, but I think it's time to end it." With wide unsure eyes, still staring at the wizards in front of him, Dudley nodded and went to turn off the music. As he did, he loudly told everyone that thanks for coming, but the party was over. A few moments later with most everyone grumbling the house was cleared out.

Harry eyed the group of people behind his most hated professor, the potions master Severus Snape, with distrust but lead them into the living room to see what they had to say nonetheless. Unable to see who was with him, as all of them wore cloaks with hoods that covered their faces quite well, he asked Snape to start explaining.

Severus could tell that Harry had been drinking and should be sober for this, so he politely offered him, Neville and Luna sobering potions. Harry snorted, "Thanks, but I'm not taking anything from you right now. Nev, go up to my trunk and get sobering potions for us." Severus raised one eyebrow at the thought that they would have some on hand already but otherwise said nothing. Neville returned with the potions needed and handed them out. Taking his, Harry frowned at Snape and with an even dry tone asked "Now, what is so important that I had to interrupt my birthday party and ruin the wonderful wasted feeling I was so enjoying?"

Severus looked at someone behind him, "Maybe we should start this off with someone you know and might trust more than me, which might help speed things along." Harry nodded his agreement and was unable to hide a breathtaking smile as he saw Remus Lupin lower his hood and grin at him. He moved in a rush to go and embrace the man, but stopped a few feet from him and let his thoughts finally catch up to him. Why was Remus with them, but was unable to come earlier in the day to his party? Remus noticed Harry stop with a question in his eyes and smiled to himself. "Hello Harry, sorry I'm late but I had some stuff to take care of. You understand, right?" Harry did understand yes, but something was making the hairs on the back of his head stand up and he decided to go with his gut, feeling that something wasn't right. "I'm sorry to do this, Remus, but I must ask you to prove you are who you say you are." Remus, with a proud look in his eye, bowed his head once and waited for the questions.

"Who are Moony, Padfoot and Prongs?"

With a quick grin Remus replied, "Why, myself, your father, and your godfather, of course."

"What is my Animagus form?"

Remus didn't answer at first, instead he asked if Harry was sure he wanted him to answer that. Harry knew it might be a risk, not knowing just who was in the room, but he also knew that it was a question that only four people could answer correctly. So with a level glare, he said yes.

"Well, that's a trick question, Harry, as you have more than one." Ignoring the gasps, Harry made a hand gesture to let him know to continue.

"The first form you found out about was a timber wolf, and the second was of a black panther. We have been unable to test you to see if you have any other forms, but made plans to do so before you went back to school."

Before Harry could agree or say anything else, one of the other cloaked figures had felt that enough time had passed with him being ignored and with this new information was unable to hold back his excitement. "My pup has two forms? TWO? How could you not tell me, Moony?" And with a whoop he flung off his cloak and went towards Harry to grab him into a hug.

* * *

Severus tried and failed to bite back his groan at seeing the foolish man rush towards the boy without thinking. He could see the shock, hope, fear and then panic in Potter's eyes as he tried to take in just who his eyes told him was in front of him.

"S-S-Sirius? It can't be!" The boy exclaimed and in an instant his right hand was raised and with a whooshing sound his wand came flying towards him. In the next second he was in front of Severus, with his wand against his throat and a growl erupting from his throat, using his other hand, he froze the others without saying a word.

"Explain, right fucking now, Snape."


	2. Chapter 2

Severus paled at the Potter before him, this wasn't the same spoiled brat Golden boy from his potions class. This wasn't even a boy any longer, this was a man. A man currently holding a wand at his throat with fury rolling off of him in waves so thick you could taste it. He was frozen half in fear, half in awe at the changes Potter was showing, unable to blink or even speak. He knew he had to say something fast and soon, he could see the magic starting to leak out of Potter's body to swirl around him, was able to feel the floor under him rumbling and could hear the furniture shaking. But the show of power only scared him more, he hadn't actually seen magic, pure wild magic, coming from a wizard or witch since he was a young boy who had foolishly taken the Dark Mark. Thankfully since he was unable to move, speak or do anything someone else stepped up and laid a hand on Potter's arm.

"Harry, you have to stop! You know how much it worries Luna when you leak, she's scared of you losing control and hurting yourself. You don't want to make her worry, do you?"

Harry stopped to listen to Neville and within moments his magic calmed down, but the wand at Severus' throat didn't move an inch.

"Thanks Nev, I needed that. Sorry Luna, I didn't mean to. Forgive me, sweetheart?" Potter didn't even look over his shoulder for the nod he was getting. He may have gotten a hold of his magic and yet you could still see the fury on his face. Seeing it, Severus knew he couldn't use his normal snarky answers, he had to go with blunt, honest truth.

"Potter, it really is your godfather. The people with me brought him back for you as a show of good faith. They wanted you to listen to what they had to say and didn't think you would, without something in return. Please, trust that it's real. I went with them to the veil and watched the whole process of him coming back. They only want to talk to you, anything else that happens after that is up to you. And no matter what you decide, Sirius can stay with you, he won't be taken back."

* * *

Harry was confused, at first he thought his eyes had been lying to him and it was only showing him Sirius because it was who he wanted to see, but then he heard Snape's words and hope flared up in his chest. Harry searched Snape's face for any sign that this was a trick, however he only saw nervousness, truth and was that awe? He tried to think what the man might be in awe over and then realized he didn't listen to Neville, he forgot to put up his glamours and that his magic was just pouring out of him letting everyone see how strong it was. Wonderful, just bloody wonderful. With a small sigh, he made a mental note to get Snape and whoever else was with him to give a Wizard's Oath to protect his secrets from getting out.

He slowly lowered his wand with a small nod, he would at least listen to what was going on. It didn't matter who wanted to talk to him, if they gave him back his Godfather, they at least deserved that much. However he still had no idea who they were, and wouldn't take chances, so with a wave of his hand he put a thick shield in front of Neville, Luna and Dudley to protect them. With another wave of his hand the room's other occupants unfroze. Without missing a step Sirius finished rushing towards him, grabbed him into a hug that was so fierce he felt like he'd never breathe again.

"Siri, put Harry down, he can't breathe if you don't let him get some air!" Remus shook his head as Sirius dropped Harry so fast he fell to the floor in a heap, and then laughed as he started to pat Harry all over as if to check to see if he was ok.

Harry tried swatting away the hands that wanted reassurance he was well but was unable to, so he just sat back and let his Godfather check him over to his heart's content. When Sirius was done he smiled down at his godson and held out a hand to help him up, grabbing him in another small hug after doing so. He meant for it to be a small one, but Harry seemed to had gotten over his shock and just clung to him. When he felt the younger man start to shake in his arms, he lead them over to one of the couches and pulled him down to sit close to him. Harry started crying and saying he was sorry over and over again. Sirius looked over at Remus in confusion and pulled Harry's chin up to look at him.

"Harry, what are you sorry for?"

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to get you back sooner, I tried, I really did. I spent hours looking for a way. I thought I found out how once a few months back, but the ritual needed blood from "a kin, legal or not". And when Remus put a harsh stop to the flirting from Tonks, she stopped talking to me. What was I going to do, go up to her or her mum, and ask nicely if they would be willing to give me some of their blood? Tonks would have said no, she blamed me for Remus not dating her. And I only knew of two others with your blood- Draco Malfoy, who would ask me to hand myself over to Voldemort in exchange for his blood or just my death period, or Narcissa Malfoy, who most likely would do it for me but I wouldn't want her to get into trouble with her husband. Who knows what he would do to her, if he found out she helped me." Harry stopped and looked around when he heard a gasp and choking sound.

"NARCISSA, WHAT THE HELL?" A loud voice boomed.

Harry jumped up and pulled out his wand as he heard that, he said a spell under his breath and everyone's cloaks fell to the ground, revealing the remaining people still standing in his living room.

"Oh Merlin's balls, you have GOT to be kidding me!" Harry slumped back down besides Sirius with a dazed expression on his face.

* * *

Draco Malfoy was looking up at the medium sized Muggle house with confusion, he had no idea why they would stop here before going to Potter's house, no, Harry's house.  _I should try to start calling him Harry now_ , he thought to himself. Whatever the reason, he hoped it didn't take long. He was incredibly nervous about seeing the boy since he had no idea what would happen. They had been bitter rivals since the first day of school, would they be able to get past that? Draco stopped thinking to himself when he heard his Godfather mention wards. What kind of Muggle had wards? Wait, WAIT. Did he just hear Potter's name? He stopped to listen more carefully at what was being said. But his godfather had to be mistaken, why would Po- Harry live in a Muggle neighbourhood and not as his manor? Maybe this was just a friend's house or something, Draco shrugged and followed up to the front door.

They could hear very loud music coming from inside the house and people talking as they got closer to the door. Something about strippers and glamours? Draco had hardly any time to ponder as the door was flung open and in the doorway stood Harry, but not the Harry he knew from school. This Harry had to be over 6 feet, wasn't wearing those god awful glasses and looked dead sexy. He let his eyes run a quick glance over Harry's body, taking note of the black jeans that hugged his legs sinfully, an open vest that showed off a very tantalizing chest with abs that seemed sculpted from stone. He took a second look and saw some kind of tattoo peeking out under the vest and was very curious as to what it was. All in all, this Harry looked very fine, very fine indeed.

Once inside the Muggle home, it seemed like it was the night for shocks. First Harry's new look, then seeing Neville Longbottom and Luna "Loony" Lovegood of all people standing behind him. Draco listened as Harry asked Remus to prove who he was, and his jaw almost hit the floor when he heard that Harry was already an Animagus. Of course he couldn't have just one form, oh no, he just had to have two! Seeing the wandless and wordless magic being used so effortlessly was also quite the surprise. But what would have frozen Draco to the spot (if he wasn't already frozen by Harry's spell, that is) was seeing the pure magic flowing out of Harry, swirling around him, making everything rattle. He watched as Longbottom calmed Harry down and was relieved when the spell ended and was able to move freely, not that he did just yet. Instead he felt like he was intruding on a very personal moment as Harry held onto his Godfather on the couch. He winced when he heard what Harry said about him, it hurt to know that's what the other boy thought. Yes they fought in school, but he honestly didn't want the boy dead. His head spun to look at his mother with very wide eyes, just what did Harry mean? Did he and his mother know each other somehow? He was going to ask but before he could his father's deep voice yelled out the question.

* * *

Harry felt like a Bludger had slammed into his chest. In his house, standing in front of him, stood the whole Malfoy family. He mentally groaned as he remembered he promised himself that it didn't matter who it was, he would listen to whatever they had to say. Using another subtle hand movement he spelled his face clean of the tears and snot he was sure he had all over his face. Standing up he went to meet his guests, listening in to the conversation they seemed to be having, ready to step in if needed.

"Narcissa, what did he mean by that?"

"Lucius dear, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but he seemed like such a sweet boy and I didn't want anything to happen to him. I didn't know until recently just where we stood in the war. When you told me of all the changes, everyone was so busy researching to get Sirius back along with making all the necessary plans, that I just forgot to bring it up. With everything else going on, it just didn't seem that big of a deal to mention that I had seen him a few times. Forgive me love, I meant nothing by it."

Harry watched as the married couple seemed to have a conversation without words after that, he felt a little lighter when the elder Malfoy nodded his head after a few moments and looked less angry. He still looked confused though, so Harry offered up an explanation to help.

"Sir, Lady Malfoy never told me any details about your family, or anything that was going on with your side of the war, if that is what has you worried. The first time she saw me, she had no idea who I was, she thought I was just a hurt kid. I was buying healing potions when she was standing behind me in line and noticed I had grabbed a potion for a full grown man, not a child. She told me my mistake as well as offered to help get the correct ones. She took note of some bruises on my arm, got worried and then noticed who I was. She still helped me, telling me that no child should be abused. I went almost every week for two years to pick up my order and sometimes she was in the store as well and would politely make small talk while standing in line, which is really all it was. Every few months, she gave suggestions on the potions I should make adjustments on and would often ask about my health. Over the two years I looked forward to seeing her, sir, she was the only adult, not the only person at the time to see I was being abused and acted like she cared. Of course I thought she was just a Death Eaters wife, so I didn't fully trust her, always asking the shop keeper his thoughts as well and being careful to watch myself around her, but it really meant so much to me that not everyone thought I was just clumsy or was lying about what was going on in my life. She grew to be someone that just plain cared, when every other adult I tried to talk to, to ask for help always thought I was just telling lies, and turned their back on me."

When Harry finally stopped talking and he noted just what he had confessed to, he noticed the room was very still, Neville and Luna looked sad like they always did when they talked about it, Dudley looked embarrassed, Sirius looked confused, Remus looked angry like normal but what was shocked was that both male Malfoy's looked sick. Snape opened his mouth, no doubt to start sputtering some nonsense when he looked behind Neville and whatever it was that he saw seemed to make him change his mind over what he had wanted to say.

"Potter! What is that?!"

"Well Sir, you might need to give me more details before I can answer you."

"Don't act like a dunderhead, you foolish boy! That! Under the stairs, what is behind that door?" Snape sneered at him, his tone biter and cold.

"You mean the cupboard? You've seen it before sir, from my memories, don't you remember our Occlumency lessons?" Harry barely refrained from rolling his eyes at the man.

"Of course I remember the lessons. But Albus told me it was all in your head, a fantasy you made up to make the teachers feel bad for you so they would give you less homework and pass you on all tests. I had no idea it was true, that you had actually lived in such a place!"

Oh, bullocks. He did not want that to get out, but it was too late Sirius and Remus got up in a flash to see what Snape was talking about. This night was not going well at all, what a disaster! Remus got to the cupboard first and ripped the door off. Harry could see him sniffing the air and heard the low growling but what really had him worried was the blank look on his Godfathers face when he looked inside and then turned back to look at Harry.

"Harry. What. Is. This?"

"Um, you see, Siri, when I was dropped off here, my aunt and uncle didn't really like me too much and didn't want me underfoot so sometimes I was put in the cupboard. It was nothing, really. How about we sit down and talk about what the Malfoy's wanted, alright?" Harry tried to calm the man down, before things got out of hand. Really it didn't matter much, after this summer he wouldn't have to come back here every again unless he wanted to.

"Harry, I see a lumpy old mattress, some worn blankets and old clothes. This doesn't look like a place they just put you sometimes, this looks like a place someone was kept. Tell me the truth NOW. "

Harry gulped, his godfather's face no longer looked blank, he looked furious. "Well-it-looks-like-that-because-it-was-a-room. I-was-kept-there-everyday-until-I-went-to-Hogwarts " he said in a rush. Like a fool he thought maybe they wouldn't understand him and that would be the end of it. But no, luck was not on his side that night and his Godfather exploded, taking out his wand and blowing up everything inside the cupboard. When he was done, he looked like he wanted to blow up the whole house, so Harry went over to him and drug him to the couch.

"Siri, can we talk about this later. You know, as a family,  _alone_? Let's let the Malfoy's talk to me about whatever they came for and then we can have a family meeting, ok?"

That seemed to calm him down for now, but he gave Harry a look that promised this would not be forgotten, that they would be having a conversation later.

"Yes, you'r right, we have other things to talk about." Sirius looked around the small living room and seemed to be counting the amount of people against places to sit. "Right, well how about we head home, so we have more room to talk and move around. Also it's late, and there we'd have more room so that everyone can get some rest in."

"Sirius! We can't go to Grimmauld Place! Everyone is staying there for the summer, we'd have no privacy and well, I thought maybe we could just be alone for a while. I've missed you and I don't want to share you just yet. Please, can't we just stay here?" Harry was close to begging but he didn't care. He did not want to be around Dumbledore, he wanted to keep his training a secret as he was still upset at the old man, and he didn't know if he could trust him fully, for some reason. Also, he truly didn't want to share his godfather just yet.

"No pup, I meant your home. I know you grew up here but once you turned sixteen and got your inheritance from James and Lily, what house did you pick to move to? The Potter Manor, or maybe that small cottage in the hills? I bet that's what you picked, it has your name all over it. Or did you pick Blank Manor or one of the other homes I left you?" Sirius trailed off hearing strange noises coming from Harry, it sounded like he was choking and laughing at the same time. Now what was wrong with the boy? "Harry, what's wrong?"

His godson turned those big emerald eyes his way and started sputtering out angry words, "Potter Manor? Cottage? Inheritance? My mum? What the fuck are you talking about?" And then in a smaller whisper a question could be heard, "My mum left me something?". But before anyone could say anything, Harry swayed a bit and promptly fainted.

* * *

His fainting caused the shield he put up to protect his cousin and friends to fall, letting them rush over to him. The others looked at them confused, almost as if they forgot about them. Remus knowing how close Harry had gotten to the three of them, he thought they might have some answers.

"Neville, why did Harry seem confused about his inheritance, do you know?"

"I'm not sure, but I think he seemed confused because he didn't know about it. If he did he would have left here, and talked to us about it. Especially if he found out more information about his mother. It was one of his favorite past times, wondering about her, making up stuff about her, like her favorite foods, stuff like that. He carries a small photo of her everywhere he goes, he says it makes it feel like she's still with him all the time. He needed a mum more than anyone. No, if Harry knew, he wouldn't have been able to not tell us." Luna and Dudley nodded their heads, agreeing with what he said.

"Albus said he told Harry everything his parents left him when he was fourteen but Harry told him he wasn't ready to take on such a large estate while still in school. I thought by the time Harry turned sixteen, he would have changed his mind. Do you think that maybe Harry just kept a few things to himself?" Remus asked gently, not wanting to offend their feelings.

Luna went to reply but before she got the chance to, a weak sounding voice answered instead, "The headmaster didn't tell me any of that, I had no idea. Why didn't he tell me?"

Lucius Malfoy stepped in before anyone else could get a word in, "Mr. Potter, if I may?" Seeing his cautious nod, he continued, "It's very late already and what my family and I have to discuss with you might take some time. May I suggest that we spell this room bigger, transfigure enough beds for everyone and try to get a good night's rest first? In the morning, you can go to Gringotts to settle everything, and then maybe after that we can sit down and talk. Is this acceptable to you?."

The poor boy looked so confused that Lucius felt he had to say something. He knew there was no way what his family had to discuss would be welcomed in the state the boys mind was in now. Maybe after seeing that his parents did leave him something, going to a house they actually lived in, the boy would be happier. Or at the very least, more agreeable to what the Malfoy's had in store, it wouldn't be an easy conversation after all. Lucius knew it was low to use his emotions like that after just getting his godfather back, but with everything he had at stake he pushed those thoughts out of his head and used them to his advantage. He was after all, a Slytherin.

Right before everyone's eyes, Harry seemed to deflate. He stood up on shaking legs while running a hand through his hair, making it even more unruly. He took a few deep breaths and nodded his head.

"Yes, right, I agree. It's late, let's call it a night. I am sorry, Lady Malfoy, that I don't have better rooms to put you in for the night. Not everyone has to stay down here though, you and your husband may stay in my aunt's room, Snape can have the extra bedroom. Siri and Remus if they don't mind can stay down here and since we had already planned on enlarging my bedroom to fit Luna and Neville in with me, I guess Malfoy - er, Draco can bunk with us. Is that acceptable for everyone?"

Everyone agreed, and was shown where they would sleep and offered anything they might need. The youngest of them then went upstairs into Harry's bedroom, stopping just outside the closed door while Harry closed his eyes, concentrated and said a few words under his breath. He paused before opening the door, looking over his shoulder at the others, "I already had this room in mind so I kept it, just added another bed for Malfoy. I'm sorry we won't get to use it other than to sleep in, but I promise that where ever we go with Siri and Remus tomorrow I'll make another room like this for us." With a small smile he twisted the door knob open, swung his arms open and said "Welcome to Harry's bedroom home theater!"

"Oh Harry, you did it! I was so hoping you'd let us watch a movie or two, they sounded so amazing when you explained them to us!" Luna was clapping her hands together while twirling around the room, taking everything in.

The room had a strip of red carpet starting at the door, going down the middle of the room that lead up to each bed. Four gigantic beds, each with thick beautiful black blankets adorned with dozens of soft looking white pillows lined one wall. Across from them on the wall hung some kind of Muggle device (a television to view the movies on, Harry explained) with long columns of speakers on either side of it, on a low table in front of that was a few more Muggle devices and stacks of something else (the dvd player and movies, they were told).

But what had Neville happy was on the other side of the room, near the door. He knew what it was from having Harry describe it - a popcorn machine! He couldn't want to try that, or any of the other treats alongside. He hoped Harry would be able to really make all of this again, it would be a blast. Malfoy hadn't moved that much into the room, he looked out of place and very confused. Luna took pity on him and told him what everything was that she could recall from the descriptions Harry told her, to Harry's confusion Malfoy didn't sneer or say one bad thing about Luna or any of the Muggle things. If Malfoy was too tired to sneer at Muggle things, it must be just very late and time for bed. Promising again that they would watch a movie soon he told everyone it was time for lights out, they all got into bed and soon fell into a deep sleep.

In the spare bedroom near them Professor Snape was also getting ready for sleep, but was unable to stop thinking about the cupboard downstairs and what Potter had said. If he really had been abused, that meant Albus knew, and if Albus knew why was the boy sent back here? He wasn't even going to start trying to figure out the physical changes in the boy, or in the power he had shown. He would just observe Potter for right now, years of being a spy made it easy to sit back and watch people, people had a way of speaking more with their bodies and facial expression than with words.

Downstairs Remus Lupin was watching Sirius Black pace back and forth in front of the bed he had just transfigured, muttering about 'pup', 'abused', 'ablus bloody dumbledore', and the one that was repeated every few moments 'that fucking small cupboard'. When Sirius finally stopped pacing, he walked over to the very same cupboard under the stairs he was muttering about, to sink down to his knees in front of it. He moaned as he looked inside, the more he took it all in, the more he was sure that this was where his precious pup grew up, abused, forgotten about, and not happy and safe like he was told by the Order a few years back, when he wanted Harry to stay with him during the holidays. The past two days - coming back from the veil, being told he missed out on two years of Remus and Harry's life, seeing them both again, talking with the Malfoy family, being in this Muggle house and seeing this cupboard - it was all too much for him, so when Remus came over to him and walked him over to the bed, he collapsed on it with him and let the werewolf hold him while he cried himself to sleep.

* * *

Early the next morning, Harry woke before the others and he quietly made his way downstairs towards the kitchen. He started some coffee and some water to boil for tea, while trying to find something he could make that would feed everyone. With a shrug of his shoulders, he went about making some scones and apple muffins, if it wasn't enough they could stop to get something more in Diagon Alley before the visit to Gringotts. A small sigh left his lips, he didn't want to start thinking about the bank just yet. He had no clue what was going on, but he had a feeling he wasn't going to like what he found out. And then he had to deal with whatever the Malfoys wanted, which, he could bet, would not be good either. It was shaping up to be a very long day.

If Harry only knew just what kind of day he was about to have, he might have stayed in bed, watching movies with his friends and cousin.

Harry had finished making breakfast, made the table large enough for everyone, and had just sat down to read the Daily Prophet with a cup of tea half drank next to his elbow when the others came in. He stood up and waved his hand around, "It's not much but I'm afraid we didn't have many choices for breakfast for this many people."

Snape just grunted and made his way to the coffee while everyone else had tea. They had just sat down when an owl came in to land right on Harry's muffin, he took the letter with a groan and looked to his two best friends and cousin.

"Well it's time again, get your bets in guys." The adults (minus Remus) and Draco looked at Harry strangely, but said nothing as the others started to speak up.

"One galleon says he lets you know how 'he's just not ready for anything serious right now', but that he wants to owl you again for something casual." Neville put in his bet.

"Oh no, I thought this one was nice. One galleon on him asking for another date!" Luna said happily.

By now the others either had smiles on their faces or looked on in horror, are they really betting on Harry's love life?

"Well cub, my bet is always the same. One galleon for a marriage proposal." Remus had to make sure he got his in, half the time he won and wasn't going to give it up just yet.

"I'll change mine this time, I didn't like that one. Five pounds says he admits to having a fun time, but really just wanted to brag about having the "Saviour" in bed. I really thought he was a total bastard." Dudley had hated that wizard, something just seemed off about him.

"Dudley! We have a lady present!" Harry chided his cousin gently. "I'm sorry Lady Malfoy, please excuse my cousin. He doesn't have the best manners."

But Narcissa seemed amused by it all, "It's ok, Mr. Potter, we intruded on your birthday celebration last night after all. It is you that should excuse us. I must admit to being curious, what is it exactly you are betting on? I mean, it's not fair, how are we to bet, if we don't know?" She said with a gentle smile.

Harry's jaw dropped. Was Lady Malfoy making a joke? And asking about their normal betting routine? Well, he had to be dreaming, and if he was, he saw no harm in letting her know.

"Well, these fools here take bets on my love life, anything and everything that happens in it. Would you like to place a bet yourself, madam?" She shook her head, content with just watching to see what happened.

"Come on Harry, open it already!"

"Merlin, Nev, you act like this is for you or something. Hold your Thestrals already." Harry tried to act cheerful but inside he was really a wreck. Would this one be like the others? Was he really that untouchable since he was some kind of wizard celebrity? It wasn't fair, he wanted someone to call his own just like everyone else. Trying to make sure his hands didn't shake, he opened it to read the short letter inside.

"Well, everyone, I guess you split it between Nev and Dudley this time. Sorry, please excuse me, I forgot something upstairs." He let the letter fall to the table and left the room in a rush.

Neville got up to walk to the place Harry was just sitting to pick up the letter he left behind. He read the words and almost started to curse when he remembered they had a lady with them. Instead he growled out, "I hope I see him alone someday, he'll wish he never laid eyes on Harry!" Sirius grabbed the letter out of the teenager's hands and started to read out loud-

_"Dearest Harry, "_

"No, Mr. Black, don't! Harry will be so embarrassed!" But try as he might, Neville was unable to grab the letter back from the tall man and he was able to finish.

_"I very much enjoyed our time together but, while it was fun, I've decided that I'm just not able to commit to any one person at this present time. If you are interested in just something casual, please owl me back, I'd love spending more time with the great and gorgeous wizard Saviour."_

_Waiting to hear from you,_

_Thomas Pearson_

You could hear a pin drop as Sirius finished, no one moved or made a sound for several minutes.

"Kids, how often does my godson get letters like this?" No one really wanted to answer him, I mean who would want to tell something to Sirius Black that might anger him?

Dudley bit the bullet: "Ever since he started dating, this happens every single time he goes out with someone. They all seem to either just want to be seen with him, or they want something from him. He hasn't caught a break yet. He acts like it doesn't bother him, but we all know it really does. He covers it well by the bets and laughs. Maybe we shouldn't allow it but we do anyways, it's hard to get Harry to laugh these days."

No one even got to reply as Harry could be heard coming back down. Sirius quickly put the letter back down and tried to clear his face of the upset expression he knew he had. Harry walked back in, not knowing just what happened, and starting talking right away.

"Right, so how about this. The Malfoys and Snape came to talk about something correct? He noticed their nods before finishing, "And last night, you said my mum and dad left me a Manor, Siri? So how about we all just go to the bank, get a Portkey to it and talk once we arrive? That way we won't have to go, come back here, and then go to the manor, it will save some time."

Sirius had doubts since he was unsure what was going to happen at the bank but he was still shaken at the letter Harry got and the knowledge that it wasn't the first, so he just went along with his godson's plan. However Harry wasn't done, "Since Luna and Neville planned on staying with me for a few days, they will come too. And I'm not leaving Dudley behind, he'll be home alone here for another few weeks. I don't want to give up my time with them for anything. Guys, go pack your stuff, be ready to leave soon."

"But Harry, your cousin is a Muggle, he might not be comfy in Diagon Alley."

"Oh no Mr. Black, Dudley isn't a Mu-" Harry slapped his hand over Luna's mouth, "We're just going to go get packed, be right back!" Harry said as he dragged her out of the kitchen. Sirius and surprisingly Snape raised their eyebrows at that but didn't comment. Turning around, the Animagus faced the others, "Well, does the plan sound decent to everyone?"

Snape sneered but nodded his head, Draco and his parents all nodded their approval as well.

"Great, then we just wait for the kids to pack up and off to Gringotts we go!"

"Harry, we can Apparate out of here right?" At Harry's nod Remus set to pair the teenagers off with adults. Draco was to go with his father, Luna with himself, Neville with Sirius. He was about to put Harry with Snape and offer to take his cousin as well when Harry spoke up. "I can take my cousin Remus, we'll meet you in the alley next to the Leaky Cauldron. But may I suggest everyone wear their hoods up? It might not be good for people to see us with the Malfoys. No offense."

"Potter, what about yourself? It's still not safe for you to be seen running around." Professor Snape said his first words of the morning.

"Aww, Sir, are you worried about me? No need, my cousin and I will be well glamoured." Harry said with a smirk towards the professor seeing his sneer. "See you guys there!" With that, Harry grabbed his cousin and spun away.

"Well I guess that's that. Everyone ready? Good, let's go. See you in the Leaky Cauldron." Remus said and left with Luna. Sirius let the others leave before taking a hold of the Neville boy and leaving as well.

A short time later they all walked into Diagon Alley together and made their way towards Gringotts. Harry always stopped to read the words on the big doors before walking in, the words always made him feel safe for some reason.

_" Enter, stranger, but take heed_

_Of what awaits the sin of greed_

_For those who take, but do not earn,_

_Must pay most dearly in their turn._

_So if you seek beneath our floors_

_A treasure that was never yours,_

_Thief, you have been warned, beware_

_Of finding more than treasure there."_

He finished reading and pushed open the doors, leading the others inside. He couldn't help but feel a small bit of unease, unsure of what it was, but knowing something major was about to happen.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry and Dudley both felt magic wash over them as they returned to normal. Seeing Dudley's confused face, Harry explained that glamours weren't allowed in the bank and they had charms in place to take them down but would be put back on once they left. Walking into the bank, the group could tell it was a very busy morning for the goblins, as the bank was very crowded even with the early hour. They made their way to stand in line when Harry separated from them because he saw someone he hadn't seen in a while.

"Griphook! Hello, how are you doing?" Harry brightly exclaimed.

Said goblin stared at the young wizard in surprise. "Mr. Potter, how did you know it was me?"

Nervous now, Harry wondered if he made some kind of mistake. "Well being the first goblin I had the pleasure of speaking to when I first came into the wizarding world, it stands to reason I'd remember you, right?" Harry had a bright smile on his face as he finished. He really did enjoy that first visit to the bank, seeing the goblins and going down in the cart, it had been such a thrill!

"Mr. Potter, you are a very strange wizard indeed." Griphook shook his head, strange indeed. The two talked for a few minutes more, while those in Harry's group waited back in line for him.

Shortly after Harry had walked away, the others noticed that those in front of them seemed to be talking about Harry himself. They all stopped in to listen, wondering if it was someone they should watch out for or not.

"I'm telling you, I really was out with Harry Potter! Dinner with him was amazing but let me tell you, the man is outstanding in the bedroom, the way he moved! Dear Merlin it was like he was born for it. I hope he agrees to see me again, I've been talking with a reporter and I told her I'd give her the details of the next date location. Can you see it now? Me on the cover of the Daily Prophet, on the Wizard Saviour's arm!" A short blond bloke told his companions while laughing.

One of the other males with him was shaking his head, "I'm not sure that is such a good idea, Thomas, I don't think that will end well."

"Who cares if it ends well, I'll still be seen on his arm! It will be a huge step up for me and my family." The young man named Thomas replied greedily.

Harry's group stood in silence up to that point, then as they got over their astonishment, out came an explosion of angry words.

"Oh for shame! Honestly, how some families in the wizard world act are beyond my understanding!" Lady Malfoy was mad enough to spit, if she wasn't a lady, that is. How dare this young man speak of such a private encounter in public like that!

"Well dear, it just goes to show you, some families truly are better than others." Her husband sneered out.

"Thomas, are you Thomas Pearson?" The young man in question nodded and caught a fist to the nose by a very angry Sirius Black. "What gives you the right to say those things about my godson? You vile, worthless piece of scum! You will not get anywhere near him again, I can promise you that!" This was backed up by Remus, whose werewolf was close to the surface, his eyes having a slight amber tint to them.

Harry, hearing his godfathers' raised voice, rushed over to see what was happening. "Siri, what's going on? Calm down, it's all -" But whatever else Harry had to say died on his lips as he took notice of who was getting yelled at. He squared his shoulders back, let his eyes turn cold and stared at the young man he had just gotten an owl from that morning.

"Thomas. Fancy seeing you here. May I introduce you to my family? This is my godfather, Sirius Black, you know, he's the one from Azkaban? He tends to be a tiny bit overprotective of me, so maybe you should not say anything that might offend him. And over here is Remus Lupin, you remember him from the papers right? The werewolf? He's like another godfather to me, I'd hate to see what happened to anyone that angered me in front of him. They both can tend to be quite well, murderous, you see. May I suggest you forget you even knew me? Yes, I do think that would be best, don't you?" Harry was hardly able to keep the grin off his face from the joy he felt at telling Thomas off, but oh was it worth it when the man stuttered out apologies and fled the bank in terror.

Unable to hold it in any longer Harry laughed so hard he had tears in his eyes, "Oh man, that felt great!"

Sirius looked at his godson in horror, "Harry, he was saying such nasty things about you and all you can do is laugh? What in the world has gotten into you?"

Harry tried to control his laughter long enough to answer him, "I honestly have no idea what he said, but I can take a guess. Let me see- he bragged about being with me while he couldn't wait to set up something to be seen on my arm. Is that about right? It's nothing new, Siri, everyone wants to be seen with the great Harry Potter, didn't you know?" Harry's tone turned bitter towards the end, but he kept talking. "They all want a piece of me, a favour, a touch, sometimes even an article of clothing, or just the 'honor' of being my friend. It's nothing new."

The Malfoy's all looked at each other at this, feeling guilty. A small amount of uncertainty crept into their minds at hearing how Harry felt about people needing him for something. They could only hope now that they would be still able to follow the plan they had, without the young wizard feeling that they only wanted to use him.

The line had gotten shorter as Harry ranted, by the time he was done it was their turn. Harry let Sirius do all the talking, he knew and trusted his godfather enough to get everything fixed.

"Hello, we'd like to speak with the head goblins for the Black and Potter vaults please." Sirius was given a very strange look, but followed the goblin towards the back to a larger room. They got told to sit down and wait, someone would be in to see them soon.

The adults glanced at each other, all thinking the same thing. This wasn't normal, if you wanted to speak to the goblin in charge of your vaults you normally went into their office. This room was too large to belong to just a vault head goblin. They knew they'd get no answers standing, so sat down closest to the desk. Harry led the teenagers over to a small section of chairs a few feet away, close enough to hear the adults if needed, but still far enough away not to have to pay attention.

"Malfoy, come sit with us, this is going to be boring I'm sure." Harry didn't think he'd ever spoken to the blond boy before on such civil terms, but Malfoy seemed different out of school. He had yet to say one rude thing in that snotty stuck up voice of his. Maybe he just acted like a prat in school to show off in front of his house. Harry shrugged to himself, who knew.

But Malfoy looked at him like he lost his mind. "Potter, why are you just going to sit here? They will be talking about you and any vaults you have. Don't you think that's important enough for you to be over here with them?"

Harry waved a hand causally in the direction of his godfather, "Nah, my godfather along with Remus will take care of it all. I'm going to just sit back, relax and let them fix everything like they said they would." He didn't seem to mind at all and dropped down into a large brown overstuffed chair, gently smiling at Luna when she glided over to sit at his feet and rested her head on his knee. Neville laughed at them and sat in another chair near them, Dudley plopped himself down in the chair close to Neville, leaving the last one, and the one closest to Harry, for Draco which he sat down in slowly in, while watching Luna and Harry, slightly jealous of their closeness.

The adults had just settled themselves down when a door opened and two goblins came in. One goblin stood apart from the rest, he not only carried nothing but he seemed to be dressed better than the other as well. He marched up to the large oak desk and cleared his throat for attention.

"Hello, I'm Ragnok, Gringotts' head goblin. I was told you wanted to see the head of the Potter accounts, can I ask why? Just yesterday Mr Potter's magical guardian came in to sign all the papers needed. Did we by chance miss somethi- Oh, well this is news. Sirius Black. I was told you died. In fact we already finished moving all of your accounts as per your will. I will personally make sure that gets fixed right away."

Sirius didn't care about that right now, "Fine, do that. But onto more important things. I'm very interested in who Harry's guardian is. I'm his godfather and I think I would remember signing something, not to mention I would have done it with him here!" Sirius was very upset, he could tell something was wrong, very wrong. He didn't like it one bit.

Luck was on Ragnok's side that day, for Sirius Black never got around to finishing his rant. A side door banged open and a goblin came in at a full run, almost not stopping before he collided with the head goblins desk, holding some kind of blue sphere in his hands.

"Sir! Sir! I must beg your pardon at this interruption but I was working down in the family sphere room when this one started screaming that she could feel her son, and demanded to come and see him this instant before she hexed us with boils larger than our heads! Seeing at who it was and how powerful that family was, we had no doubt she could do it sir, so here. This is for you." The goblin dropped the slightly glowing sphere on the desk and fled from the room.

Both Malfoy's knew what a family sphere was, they had a few themselves. But only the richest families could afford them, so who did this one belong to? Lucius Malfoy caught on faster than the rest, "Oh great Salazar! Her son, the goblin mentioned the person was calling for her son. Is that, could that be- Lily Potter?" His question was answered with gasps as the adults thought about that. Sirius slowly nodded his head, "It very well could be, she loved to threaten us with 'boils larger than our heads' if we teased her too much. But if she had a sphere, why didn't Harry have it before now?"

"And that is what we at Gringotts want to know as well. This is most confusing, most confusing indeed." Ragnok hadn't moved from where he was standing at his desk, as he finished speaking he snapped his fingers silencing the room so no one could overhear, as was the policy for family spheres.

No one wanted to go and tell Harry he might be about to see his mother for the first time in over 15 years, some of them could hardly picture it themselves. Sirius turned pleading eyes to Remus, silently asking him to go. Looking like he had aged years older in a few short time, the werewolf made his way over to the teenagers, stopping next to Harry.

"Harry," Remus' voice broke so he tried cleared his throat and trying again, "Harry, we need you to come over here to the desk please." Harry glanced up, recognizing the tone Remus had used. The man hardly used it, so when it did you best take notice and do what he says. Harry felt uneasy as he moved to go over with the adults, turning he motioned to the other teenagers to join him. Whatever it was, he had a feeling he would want his friends with him, and Malfoy shouldn't sit alone when even his parents were over here. The goblin waved his hand and the chairs they had been using came over again, but they didn't take the same setting arrangements. Draco went to stand near his parents, Neville sat in one chair and Harry in the other, with Luna sitting on the arm rest to his chair and Dudley standing behind him.

"Mr. Potter, my name is Ragnok and I'm afraid to tell you that we, at Gringotts, have made a huge mistake. One that we will get to the bottom of before this week is out, rest assured!"

"Excuse me, but maybe my family and I should leave the room and wait for Mr. Potter outside. This is rather private, after all." Lady Malfoy was gripping her husband's hand tight as she asked about leaving. She didn't feel right about staying, they should have waited someplace else.

"My apologizes to you madam, and to you Mr. Potter as well, but no one can leave this room until we are finished. When a family sphere is in a room, the room is always spelled. Mr. Potter I'm sure you would want this to be private but the most I can do for you is a privacy bubble separate from us, if you wish it." Ragnok waited for a nod of confirmation from the teen and walked around the desk towards him. "This Mr. Potter is for you. Do you know what to do?"

"N-No. You said family sphere. Is it from my family?"

"Yes Mr. Potter. This sphere was made by Lily Potter, especially for you."

Hearing his mother's name, Harry jumped up and grabbed the sphere with shaking hands. "Well, what do I do? How do I use it? What is it?"

"Well, actually Lord Malfoy might be best to explain its use, I know he has a few in his home. We goblins only help make them and hold them. Lord Malfoy, would you care to help him understand?"

Everyone turned towards the man, waiting to see what he would say. With a small bow, Lucius stepped forward.

"Mr. Potter, a family sphere is something quite special, you should feel honoured to have one. Most families can't afford to have one made, they are very, very expensive. To make one, a person has to give up a fourth of their magic, as well as a few other things, but we won't get into the potion part, if you want I can explain that to you at a later time, or Professor Snape can. You have seen magical portraits, correct?" He paused to make sure he was being followed so far, "Well, like a portrait a sphere will hold the memories of the person making it, but unlike portraits, spheres can do much more. If a person makes a sphere and then dies, part of that person lives on in the sphere. Not as a ghost, but not really alive either. They are able to understand some of the things happening in people's lives, those they named in their will. In a way, they can act as guides, they can help you see things, offer advice, it all depends on the person and what they need. For example- my grandfather died when my father was very young, and he offered my father advice with money because he wasn't able to teach him much before he had passed on. It's different for everyone." Lucius stopped talking as he noticed hardly anyone was paying him any attention, everyone had eyes on the only Potter left.

No one said anything, they all just watched as Harry fell back into his chair with the sphere held tightly in his hands. Looking much shaken he glanced up at the surrounding people, "What do I do now?"

Taking pity on the young man, Lucius once again spoke up. "Mr. Potter, it's quite simple. Hold the sphere in one hand, while with the other take your wand out, tap it on the sphere and say 'The Potter Heir wishes to speak with you'. That is the standard first password, later on in private you can pick another one to use."

Trying to keep his excitement down, Harry took his wand out to do as he was told. He spoke clearly, tapped the sphere, but nothing happened. He frowned and tried again, getting confused when nothing happened. After trying a third time, getting the same response he started to get upset. He glared over at the goblin, only to see the goblin looking confused and slightly upset as well.

"Mr. Potter, I apologize if this question is seems rude, but I must ask it as I cannot think of any other reason for it not to be working. You did listen to your parents' will the first time you came into Gringotts, didn't you?" The goblin seemed to not want to hear the answer, but needed to anyway.

Harry stared blankly at the question, "Um, well I didn't listen to anything, no. But when I first came here I was brought to my vault, vault number 687, is that what you mean?"

Ragnok couldn't remember ever being so nervous standing in front of a wizard before. "Mr. Potter, on behalf of Gringotts may I offer my sincere apologies for this oversight. I'm not quite sure how this happened but it seems that the head goblins to your vaults have not been doing their jobs, failing to make sure you knew everything you needed to." He finished under his breath so low that only the adults heard him, "May Merlin have mercy on their souls for this, as I sure won't."

The goblin said no more as he walked towards the back wall with a key in hand. After a few spoken words and unlocking it a small door opened up, Ragnok went inside briefly, coming back out with a few thick files. While laying them down on his desk he opened each one slightly to look at the first piece of parchment, after seeing that each one noted the same thing he cleared his throat and look right into Harry's eyes, "Mr. Potter, these are the wills that should have been read the first time you came into our bank. The records in them show that your magical guardian opened and read them three days after your parents' death and left a note that he would take care of everything until you turned 21. I think this is why nothing was said to you on your first visit. He must have had his reasons but whatever they might have been if you wish that these wills be read, I cannot deny you that. Do you wish to hear them?"

Sirius Black stood up, looking very much like the criminal he was accused of. He turned his fierce eyes towards the goblin and all but growled out, "I asked about his magical guardian before, and this time I demand you answer me. Tell me now, who is it? I'm his legal godfather so you tell me, just who has taken over my godsons account?"

Harry looked thoughtful and then angry as he thought about it. He had a pretty good idea of who it was but he desperately hoped he was wrong. As he stood to walk over to his godfather he started speaking, "If it wasn't Sirius I can only think of one person that would try to take control of my accounts. The same person that has had control of my entire life since Voldemort killed my parents. It lists Albus Dumbledore as my magical guardian, doesn't it Ragnok?" He didn't acknowledge the questions being asked behind him or the look of complete outrage on Remus' face, instead keeping his eyes only on Ragnok waiting for his response.

"Yes, he said that it was stated in your parents will that he was to look over you and all your estates until a later time when you would be ready."

Harry was already starting to get tired and the day was only beginning. He felt a headache coming on. Rubbing his temples he asked, "Do you think it would be possible if we fought over my magical guardian later since it doesn't really matter as I'm 17 now? I'd much rather listen to the wills now please." The brunette haired teen sat down, somewhat anxious to hear his parents will.

Sirius looked like he very much wanted to continue but his godson was correct, he was 17 now and was legally an adult, it didn't matter any longer. He pulled a chair closer to Harry to sit near him while they listened, just in case he needed him. Ragnok made sure those still standing took seats as well before tapping a large file with one finger, then stepping back as mist came up from it, spreading out over his desk to the front of it where it started to take the form of a person. The form didn't seem to take the shape of any one person but it seemed like it was a witch and when it started to speak it was proven that in fact it was.

_**"I, Lady Lily Marie Potter-Gryffindor nee Evans, being of sound mind and body do declare this to be my last Will. I revoke all wills previously made by me or signed with my name."** _

No one moved, no one dared to breathe when the mist paused _. "Lady Potter-Gryffindor?"_  Was the thought in everyone's mind.

* * *

At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in the current headmaster's room, loud noises could be heard as the monitoring crystals Albus Dumbledore had on Harry Potter spun wildly on their stands before falling off to shatter on the floor. The aging wizard stood faster than his aching knees should have allowed him to and rushed over to the crystals to see which ones broke. He was shocked that the ones watching over the wards had changed, someone had added to the ones he put in place. The other crystal that fell was the one that would alert him to bursts of strong magic in the home. Those two breaking at the same time was very worrying, Albus knew he had to get over to Privet Drive right away. As headmaster he was allowed to Apparate in and out of the school and its grounds, something he took advantage of now to get to Harry's house quickly.

At the Muggle house Harry grew up in Albus found no one home, in his worry he didn't take the time to think about casting spells to see who added to the wards or who had been in the house, instead he turned around and Apparated to Grimmauld Place, where some of the members in the Order of the Phoenix were already staying. He needed to call a meeting right away.

Less than an hour later the kitchen at Grimmauld Place was full with wizards and witches sitting and standing around the very full table. Everyone was chatting and catching up on gossip while they waited for the last members to come. A few last members came through the fire place and Albus stepped up to the head of the table and waited to get everyone's attention. It didn't take long as this wasn't a scheduled meeting, and all wondered what happened. They didn't have to take long to find out.

"Harry Potter is missing. That's what this meeting was called for, but then I also received word that the whole Malfoy family has gone missing as well. They might not be related but we don't want to take any chances. Has anyone had any word from Harry, or maybe knows where he is?" Albus appeared shaken at the news, looking to the younger of the members as if he was hoping that maybe this was a misunderstanding and the boy just went someplace without telling an adult. But most of younger members just looked at each other and shrugged.

"Sorry headmaster, we have no idea where he could be." Ron Weasley said. He turned towards one of his brothers as he heard them try to cover up a snort. "Oi! You got something to say?"

His older twin brothers glanced at one another and seemed to have a short silent conversation. One spoke up, "No mate, just had something caught in my throat."

With his annoying twinkle present in his eyes, he smiled down at the boys. "Now, now boys, let's not fight among ourselves. Now is the time to come together to try and find out where Harry is. Does anyone else have any ideas on where he might have gone, or who he might be with?" Albus stepped back from the head of the table and waiting to hear what the others said. Hopefully one of them had some kind of idea. But luck was not on his side tonight, as even hours later no one was any closer on finding out where he might be. Moreover, unfortunately for them, the wizard who was supposed to be watching his aunt and uncle's home had passed out drunk shortly after arriving at his post.


	4. Chapter 4

_**"I, Lady Lily Marie Potter-Gryffindor nee Evans, being of sound mind and body do declare this to be my last Will. I revoke all wills previously made by me or signed with my name."** _

* * *

Before anyone could say anything, more mist started spreading over the desk as another form started to take shape and as one they all leaned forward to listen as a clear, loud wizard voice boomed out,

 

**"I, Lord James Nicholas Potter-Gryffindor, being of sound mind and body do declare this to be my last Will. I revoke all wills previously made by me or signed with my name.**

**Hello son. If both of us are together, that means your mother was correct and her visions will come to pass. We had hoped so much that we might be able to change what she saw, that we would have raised you, our beautiful son, together, that he was brought up loved and cherished. But she told me that this vision would not be changing like others had, this one only had one outcome- the one with us dying by the hands of a mad man and our son growing up abused and unwanted. Knowing this we made plans so that at least on the day you turned seventeen you would know the truth, the whole truth, not the half-lies and made up stories that people told you. Harry, I know most of this will be very difficult for you to hear but try to listen to everything your mother has to say before storming off in anger, please for your old man?**

**I know she will explain it to you, but I wanted you to hear from it from me as well. I'm very sorry that you don't have a sphere from me, I know there will be times where you wish you could speak to me and I wish with all my heart son that I could answer. But I had other important things to do with my magic and I just didn't have enough left over to power a family sphere. I don't regret it, not for one second, because I was able to save your life with my magic. Your mother and I had a choice, only one of us could keep enough magic to power a sphere and as much as I wanted it to be me, I couldn't ask your mother to give up the chance to see and talk to you again. I love you both so much that I can honestly say, that with her brains, she will be the better help to you, your family and your friends in the years to come. You'll understand soon that for your children, you will do anything and everything for them. Even when it means you get hurt in the process. Because they, and your husband, will be the most important people in your life and you only want the best for the ones you love.**

**Since I made the choice not to make a sphere I'm going to use this will to give you some words of advice and bits of wisdom, I thought you might like more if you heard it from my voice rather than reading it in the form of a letter. Whether you use any of it or none of it, is up to you but I do hope some of it helps.**

**Anything is possible if you treat people with respect, work hard and do your best.**

**There's a lot of ignorance in this world son, don't contribute to it!**

**You have only three things in this life that really matter: Your health, your family, and your name. If you ruin any one of those, you will have nothing.**

**When it's your fault, own up to it and take the blame. Then try to fix your mistake and learn from it.**

**Never take what you yourself would never give.**

**When you and your husband are expecting, treat him better than normal. Remember, this is the man who will be giving you your sons and daughters, make sure he knows each and ever day how much you appreciate that and him.**

**And yes, I said husband. Your mother and I know of your preferences, we are ok with it, who you love doesn't change how much we love you.**

**Keep an extra set of pillows and blankets in your study, for the nights you screw up so badly that your husband kicks you out of your bed. And when it does happen, say your sorry first thing the next morning along with breakfast in bed.**

**Take time to enjoy the little things in life. If you find a hobby you love to do, do it as often as you can.**

**Laugh often and laugh loudly. If you ever forget how, go to Padfoot and Moony, they will help you remember. But don't be like me Harry, never laugh at another's expense. It doesn't make you the better man.**

**I was so happy when your mother told me she was giving me a son, I couldn't wait to hold you. And that first time I did, I cried, you were such a beautiful boy Harry. If you are anything like the young man your mother has shown me from her visions, you are an even more beautiful young man- inside and out. I'm so proud of you son, so very proud. I love you Harry, never forget that.**

**Now onto the fun stuff! Kidding son, I know the above words will always mean more to you than anything else we could leave you. But the law still states that we have to lay it all out clear and simple. So here we go.**

**To Remus J. Lupin, we leave the cottage in the woods behind Potter Manor that you love so much and five million galleons. Lily also leaves you copies of all her books, they are in the Evans vault- vault number 647.**

**To Sirius O. Black, since you are in no shortage of houses you understand why we don't leave you one. The same goes for gold. Instead we leave you with our memories showing that we did not use you as our secret keeper. Have Harry use them to prove your innocence. We also leave you our son, take care of him Padfoot. He will always need you near so never leave him again if you can help it.**

**To Severus T. Snape, I know right now you might be confused as to what we would leave you, but that will be explained shortly. We leave you all of Lily's potions notebooks in the Evans vault, and five million galleons.**

**To Lord and Lady Malfoy, you also might be wondering why we are leaving you something, that will also be explained soon. Since you had to leave your home, we leave you a Manor near the Potter Manor that Ragnok will give you the location to, as well as twenty-five million galleons. It may seem like a lot but Lily was unable to see if the ministry ever unlocked your vaults or not. If they do, well, the gold is yours to do with what you wish.**

**To our nephew Dudley Dursley, we leave you with ten million galleons in the wizard world as well as five million pounds in a bank in London. Ragnok can give you all the details and can transfer the money to any bank you wish. While we don't like the way you treated our son before now, we respect that you made amends and have both worked past it. Don't let your father's way of thinking ruin the life you can have. Take this money and choose your own path. Be than man you want to be, not what they think you should be.**

**We leave everything else to our Heir, Harry James Potter-Gryffindor to do with as he pleases. If he wishes to donate it all and renounce all the titles, while not what we want for him, we wish for his decisions to be followed. Harry, I leave the rest to your mother to explain, she will surely have my head if I leave nothing for her. Goodbye my son, I love you."**

With those last words the mist slowly retracted to where ever it came from, making everyone's attention not on it any longer but instead on the young man whose head was bowed and his body shaking as he silently cried his heart out. Sirius got up to kneel in front of Harry's chair intending to pull the younger man into a hug but before he could, he found himself with a lap full of Harry as his godson clung to him, crying even harder. Sirius just hugged the boy tight as tears fell from his own eyes to cry with him. After their shirts were soaked and they had no more tears left in them, Harry finally spoke up, "Was that really my dads voice Siri?"

"Yeah pup, it sure was."

Some sniffles and then, "Siri, are we done yet? I'd like to go home now."

"Oh pup, no I don't think we are quite finished just yet. But I promise as soon as we are, we will go to which ever house you choose ok?"

That was the wrong answer as Harry pushed away from the man to get out of his arms, shoving the man back with his hands and magic at the same time. His magic was reacting to his emotions, causing him to push the man harder than needed, making Sirius slam into the wall behind them with a loud crack. "No!" shouted Harry, "I want to go home now. I don't want to be here any longer, I can't do this!" Luna being the brave girl she was, gestured with one hand for Remus to go check on Sirius while she moved slowly towards Harry to everyone's amazement.

"Harry, look at me." She said in her soft, sweet voice. It always calmed Harry down and it looked like today was no different from any other time. "Harry, I know this is difficult for you, but you really should see what your mum has to say. Don't you want to hear her voice again? You can ask you all those questions you have. I promise I will sit right next to you the whole time and when you need a break I will make sure you get one. Is that alright with you?"

"Luna, I don't think I can do this. I'm so confused. Half of the stuff my dad said doesn't even make sense. I mean why the fuck did he leave Snape something? And what visions did my mum have?"

Casting an apologetic look to their potions professor, the shy Ravenclaw kept going. "Well we won't know why they did what they did unless we hear it from your mum, she will let us know. Remember what your dad said? He said to listen to everything your mum had to say before storming off in anger. You wouldn't want to not listen to your father's last words would you?" She knew it was low to bring up, but she hoped it would do the trick. She was right. She watched Harry stand up straighter and wipe down his face. He grabbed her by the arm, went back to his seat and dragged her into his lap. "Your right. He did say that. But you are staying with me and when I need a break, remember what you promised me." Luna nodded and hugged Harry, not making a sound of protest when his arms tightened a bit too much around her.

The others in the room didn't know what to think, say or do, everyone was in different stages of shock, grief and confusion. This was turning out to be some day.

Harry, having calmed down a bit remembered with shame how hard he pushed his godfather away and glanced sheepishly at him from behind his bangs. "Um, Siri? Are you ok? I'm sorry"

"Of course Pup, don't you worry your pretty head over me. I'm fine." He looked over at his godson fondly, with a small smile on his face. He was worried about his godson, this was almost too much for him to take in at once, how on earth was Harry taking this all?

"Well, now that that's settled let's see what my mum has to say. No point in putting it off any longer." He unwrapped his arms from around Luna to grab his wand and the sphere from where he had put it next to his chair when his dad had started to speak. "Here goes nothing." Taking a deep breath and letting it out he stated clearly,

 

**"The Potter Heir wishes to speak with you."**

Expecting the same kind of mist that the will's used Harry was shocked to his core when standing just in front of him was the woman he looked at everyday from the old wizard photograph that he had carried on him everyday since receiving it.

He looked at her face and looked right into the same brilliantly bright emerald eyes that he saw looking back at himself every time he looked in a mirror. Still in shock he just looked at her, drinking her in as if he was a dying man and she was the last thing he would ever see. Finally he got over his surprise to notice that it was really **her** , he was staring at  **his mum**. In his excitement he jumped up, throwing poor Luna to the floor while doing so. But he paid her no mind as he was slowly reaching his hand out as if to touch his mother. He was almost heartbroken when his hand went right through her. That didn't last long as she started to speak, and her first words were nothing like what he was expecting.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER! Pick up that girl right now, is that how you treat women?" Lily Potter stood with one hand on her hip as she stared back and forth from her son, to his friend that he dumped on the floor.

"Yes ma'am, I mean no ma'am. I mean, what, huh? I haven't seen you since I was a baby and that's the first thing you want to say to me. Really?" Harry was torn between being embarrassed, being upset at himself that he did indeed drop Luna like that, and confused (and slightly happy) that his mum was actually disciplining him.

Sirius, Remus and shockingly enough, Narcissa could all be seen and heard laughing loudly (or in Narcissa's case, softly, behind her hand) at Harry. Harry gave them all a small glare as he turned around to Luna to pick her up.

"I'm so sorry sweetheart, what can I do to make it up to you?" He gave her a pout while batting his eyes at her, trying to get her to forgive him. But she only laughed and replied that she was fine and all was forgiven. Flashing a brilliant smile that lit up the room Harry turned back to his mum, excited, scared, nervous and sad all at the same time. She opened her arms as if to bring him closer for a hug and then dropped her hands with a small frown when remembering she was unable to touch him.

"Well son, come closer, let's get a good look at you. My, such a handsome young man!"

"Mum!" He exclaimed with his cheeks turning a lovely shade of pink.

"What? A mother can't tell her only son how handsome he is? That's such a shame. Well then, let's see who all is here. Hmm, yes everyone from the visions I had are here, expect for this lovely young lady with you. Harry, do be a gentleman and introduce us?"

Harry gave Luna a gently shove forward, "Mum this is my favorite gal and best friend, Luna Lovegood. She's a year younger than me, in Ravenclaw and absolutely brilliant!" He spoke with pride, Luna was everything to him. She was an unwavering constant that he was blessed to have in his life, never letting him down but not putting up with any of his crap either.

Luna bent with a small curtsy, offering a timid smile, "Hello. Harry speaks very highly of you, we have talked so much about you. It's such an honor to meet you."

"Such a sweet child. Hello Luna, the pleasure is all mine." Lily said, then looked around the room, ending her gaze at the head goblin, giving him a small bow in which he returned.

"Now, we don't have much time and we have much to discuss. Please everyone, let's all take a seat and I promise all your explanations are coming."

Remarkably enough they all did as she said and all eyes stayed focused on Lily, most with different levels of confusion on their faces.

Lily snapped her fingers and a chair came into view behind her, just as transparent as her, and she moved closer to Harry and sat down. "Harry dear, I promise that after today I will always be here to talk to you and answer all the questions you have for me. But for today I need you to do a few things for me, can you do them without question? I swear that it is needed, so much will be lost if we don't do this."

Harry looked at her with a glassy eyed stare, he took a few seconds to take in what she said, "Do them without question? Well, they won't hurt anyone, will they?"

Lily grimaced, 'None of the things will physically hurt anyone, but emotionally, yes Harry some of the things will be quite painful for most of you. But it is all very much needed. The future of the wizarding world depends on today happened. When I said so much would be lost, I meant it. People will die for foolish reasons, our entire way of life will be taken from us, trust me Harry, there are things you all need to know, you maybe most of all. You don't want anything more hidden from you correct? You want the whole truth? Well this will make it so you know everything."

Harry leaned back to think about it. He did want to know everything, people always seemed to hide things from him, never letting him know the truth not even about his own life. He looked around for help in what he should do.

His cousin was just sitting there taking everything in, he knew he would get no help from Dudley, Dudley would tell him to do whatever his mum asked. Same with Neville and Luna.

As his eyes left Luna and traveled to Sirius he got a nod, seemed his godfather was fine with the plan. Remus gave a small shrug of his shoulders, he would stand behind the choice Harry made.

Lastly he let his eyes fall on the Malfoy family. He thought maybe he shouldn't even care to let them voice their thoughts, but his parents did leave them something in their will. They had to have a reason for that right?

"Mr. Potter, I am curious about why your parents named my wife and I in their will and would like to hear the why. Also what your mother just said about the future of the wizard world has me wanting to hear what she has to say even more. As she said no physical harm will come to my family, we agree to this." Lord Malfoy articulately stated.

Harry didn't even waste time looking at the potions master, he knew Snape would have just sneered at him and said something degrading like normal.

He wasted no more time, he did want to hear why his parents left the Malfoy's stuff, and he wanted to know the whole truth finally. He nodded at his mother, "Ok, I'll do what you need me to."

"Good. Then let's us not waste any more time. Harry, I need you to ask Ragnok for a time distortion spell starting now and lasting until you leave and tell him to take the gold from vault number 17."

"Er, ok. Ragnok, could we have a time distortion spell that lasts until we lease please? Take the cost from vault 17." Harry desperately wanted to ask why they needed it, but had said he wouldn't question anything so he didn't.

"Of course Mr. Potter, I will cast it now and make note to take the gold when we finish up." Ragnok muttered a few words in the goblin language Gobbledegook and cast the spell. The goblin then looked at Harry and Lily asking a silent 'what now?'

Lily seemed relieved that her plans where being put in motion. "Thank you Ragnok, good job Harry. I know you want to know why, I'll answer that question at least. We have tons to go over and a time distortion spell means that for every hour spent in here, only 10 minutes passes outside this room. The goblins can cast the spell for you, for a cost, any time and any where you need it Harry, remember that for later, it will come in handy. Now next I need you to go put your wand on Ragnok's desk and stand in front of him." She waited while he went and did what she instructed. "Now, repeat this. I, Harry James Potter, heir to the ancient and most noble houses of Potter, Black and Gryffindor humbly ask that I be allowed to use my wand and I swear, should I cast any deadly spells I will forever be indebted to you." Gasps could be heard as she finished.

"HARRY NO! Don't do that, you never want to be indebted to a goblin. It's horrible and they could do anything to you. It's been said that some goblins have done some very foul things to wizards in their debt. Lily! How could you tell your son to swear that? Honestly woman!" Sirius, eyes blazing, was seconds away from tearing his godson from this room.

However Harry wasn't paying him any mind, the words his mum had told him to say had penetrated his mind and he did understand them but it was his mum, she wouldn't tell him to do anything that would harm him. He slowly made his way to the desk, as he was passing his godfather he laid a hand on his arm and told him, "It's my mum Siri, if I can't trust her not to hurt me, who can I trust?" Sirius grudgingly conceded his point and allowed Harry to move in front of the desk, watching as he laid his wand down in front of the shocked goblin.

"I, Harry James Potter, heir to the ancient and most noble houses of Potter, Black and Gryffindor humbly ask that I be allowed to use my wand and I swear, should I cast any deadly spells I will forever be indebted to you" A large swirl of golden magic came out of Harry and went into Ragnok. The goblin handed Harry his wand and said back, "I agree to your vow."

Harry was sweating, really hoping he hadn't just made the biggest mistake of his life.

Lily waited until Harry had made it back to his seat to start talking again.

"I suppose I should start with what started all this. Not long before I was born, before all us adults were born, a prophecy was made. And no, it wasn't the one you all are thinking about. It was another one, one that tied most of us together while outside forces worked hard to force us apart. The summer before we adults started Hogworts a wizard came to visit me, to tell me that one day I would have a child that was meant to do great things and that I needed a special gift to help him. He gave me the gift to  **see**. With it I saw visions of my future and used them once I got to school to make the friends I needed to. I'll tell you the rest of the story after I tell you the prophecy." Lily cleared her throat and spoke again.

 

  
**"Black and Gryffindor females born in the same month of the same year...**  
 **Will birth sons that will rid us of the two greatest evils the world has ever seen...**  
 **The sons will be further known by the storm and moon marks upon their bodies...**  
 **Both sons will face hardships.. Both sons will have others try to control them, to use them...**  
 **The year in which another attempts to take the moon unwillingly, the storm must step in and be bound to the moon forever...**  
 **Take heed of the werewolf that calls the storm his own, he and his mate will be among the sons most loyal allies...**  
 **Protect the storms seer, for if she is lost, then so is all hope..."**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thanks for reading! I just wanted to add that if anyone was wondering how I came up with the amount of gold, I used an online converter. In case anyone is interested in the amounts or how much it is in a currency you know, feel free to check it out.  
> http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizworld/galleons.html
> 
> Again, Harry Potter is not mine. Only the OC's are and some of the prophecies (like the one above) are.
> 
> -wandwaving


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thank you to my new and awesome beta, starlight.moon.princess (over at ff.net), this chapter was able to come out much faster than planned. Hopefully I can write fast enough to keep up with how fast she beta's! ;)
> 
> In this chapter (and later on in other chapters) I will use spells, charms, potion names, etc that I have made up using translators. Either at the top or the end of those chapters I will make note of what they mean.
> 
> Reconstruct Amisit Memorias - reconstruct lost memories  
> Coegit Fertility Potion - forced fertility potion

_previously on Honoring their Sacrifice:_

  
**"Black and Gryffindor females born in the same month of the same year...**   
**Will birth sons that will rid us of the two greatest evils the world has ever seen...**   
**The sons will be further known by the storm and moon marks upon their bodies...**   
**Both sons will face hardships.. Both sons will have others try to control them, to use them...**   
**The year in which another attempts to take the moon unwillingly, the storm must step in and be bound to the moon forever...**   
**Take heed of the werewolf that calls the storm his own, he and his mate will be among the sons most loyal allies...**   
**Protect the storms seer, for if she is lost, then so is all hope..."**   


* * *

Total silence met the end of Lily's words.

But Lily didn't give any of them the time to start talking and discuss the prophecy, instead she spoke up once more.

"Now I am sure that most of you would like nothing more than to start taking apart that prophecy and figuring it out but trust me when I tell you that there are more important things that you need to be told. There isn't any other way to get this started, so I'll just dive right in."

Lily Potter moved glided over to the middle of the room, where she could see all, and in return be seen by all better. She took a moment to look over all the adults, taking them all in with a pained expression.

"Hello my friends, I've missed you so much. I so wish that this didn't have to happen, but it must. I'm so very sorry for the sorrow I'm about to cause you. I hope by the end you remember how much I loved you all, and forgive me." She paused, as if not sure what to say next.

Turning to glance at the teenagers, making sure they paid attention as well, Lily continued.

"At age 11, all of us adults entered Hogwarts at the same time along with Harry's father James and against all protests from others, we started up a friendship. It wasn't long into the first year that I took Narcissa aside and told her the prophecy and that I was sure it was talking about her and I. She agreed with me right away and from that moment on the two of us hardly were seen apart. Some of our friendships turned into relationships, turning into marriages after school." She paused momentarily to take an unneeded breath.

"It was going great for all of us until I became pregnant with Harry. While talking with the Malfoy's about the prophecy, we were overheard by someone who should have never known about it. Unfortunately we got careless and forgot to set up privacy charms, to our shame it was a mistake that greatly cost us all. The person that overheard us felt that it was in his best interest to make us all forget. He waited until we all got together in the same place and made us forget everything and placed fake memories in our heads instead. The only reason I know this is because the day before I lost all memories, I had just finished collecting memories from each of us to collect in a pensieve. Severus swore there was something about the prophecy that we missed and suggested we combine all our thoughts on it to try to find what it was. I never looked into the pensieve until a few months after I gave birth to Harry, when I did all of my memories came rushing back to me. I was able to figure out what Severus thought the missing piece was and didn't know what to do or who to go to. I told James and right after I finished helping him regain his memories I got caught up in a vision, that vision is what lead us to today. The next year of my life was the hardest but in it, I made sure to set this sphere up while trying to get everything together for this moment."

This time it was not silence that followed her speech, it was deafening chaos as the adults erupted in noise protesting angrily.

"Please let me finish. I can prove it to you. I developed a spell that can give you back your old memories, as well as a charm that will protect you in the days to come so this will never happen again. However, in order for the spell to work the caster that will be pulling your memories forth will also be seeing them in parts. I had limited time to test this spell but it does work, I can promise you."

Lord Malfoy stared right at her, a bit shaken and somber. "Do you really expect us to believe that our memories covering a decade of our lives are wrong? Madam, I'm sorry but I find this hard to listen to."

One by one most of the other adults voiced their concerns and thoughts on it as well. All but one. Narcissa Malfoy was examining Lily while she had talked, just taking it all in. As the men seemed to believe her less and less, Lily was looking more and more miserable. It made Narcissa pause. What if she was telling the truth? The thought had her horrified.

"Stop this nonsense at once gentlemen! We will not fight about this like children. We are adults and shall act like it!" Narcissa scolded. "Let's look at the facts we know, along with the information we have learned so far today. What if it is all true? Could any of us afford to not know? I don't know about you, but I for one am not willing to take the chance. If someone has messed with my memories I want them back and I want them back NOW!" She demanded.

Lord Malfoy and Severus looked at Narcissa like she had lost her mind, but she was not about to be forced to change her mind. She wanted to know if any of her memories had been tampered with and if so, Merlin save the person that thought it was acceptable to mess with Lady Malfoy!

Despite her husband telling her no, she locked eyes with Lily and announced she was ready.

"The spell I made has to be cast by someone of my blood, so Harry will have to be the one to do it. This means that yes, he will be able to see parts of your returning memories." Lily stated.

Harry remembered the last time he viewed someone's memories. It was very personal and a breach of privacy that he wasn't sure he wanted to do. "Um. Mum? Are you sure it has to be me? Seeing someone's memories is almost too personal for me to share with people I know, let alone sharing with people who before today we had a mutual hatred for each other. " Harry's voice trailed off as Luna came up behind him to whisper into his ear. When she was finished he nodded with a grimace.

"Fine, I will cast the spell for them."

Lily made sure Harry had the wand movements correct and could pronounce the words before having him sit in front of Lady Malfoy.

"I'm sorry Lady Malfoy, what I see I promise will go no further." Harry was quick to reassure her. His moved his wand in a quick downward flick to the left and cast  _Reconstruct Amisit Memorias!_

It didn't take long for him to start seeing flashes of memories being returned to Lady Malfoy.

_**...** _

_Narcissa and Lily eating together in the great hall, laughing as they teased each other on a score they had gotten on a charms test. ..._

_Lily telling Narcissa the prophecy for the first time..._

_Narcissa sharing the secret of her crush on Lucius with Lily and wondering what to do about it..._

_School dances, summers spent with Lily, James, Remus, Sirius, Severus and Lucius, them all studying together for their O.W.L.S and N.E.W.T.S..._

_Narcissa and Lucius getting married, Lily standing up for her. Narcissa's fears of the wedding night and Lucius being caring and loving while thrusting deeply into her, telling her how much he adored her..._

_Lily's wedding to James, Sirius and Narcissa standing up for them._

_Lucius and Narcissa having wild sex all over their manor and being caught when Lily and James walked in on them..._

_Lily telling everyone they got pregnant and that they wanted Sirius and Narcissa to be the baby's godparents..._

_Narcissa holding Harry for the first time, while pregnant herself..._

_Lily and Narcissa planning their son's wedding, how may grandchildren they would have and where their sons would live..._

_Draco's birth and Lily and Severus becoming his godparents.._

_Lucius coming home and telling everyone the good news that Albus was going to let him move forward with the plan of him becoming a spy for the light with Severus..._

_**...** _

The decade worth of memories kept going and when Harry was sure that no more could be found he canceled the spell.  _Finite Incantatem!_

Narcissa Malfoy was sitting straight back, not moving with a steady steam of tears running down her face.

Lord Malfoy gently knelt by his wife and took her hands in his. "Dear one, are you alright?"

"Oh Lucius!" she wailed, "It worked. So many memories, how could I have not know all that was missing? You have to go next sweetheart, you have to."

She turned and looked at Harry, "I can't even begin to imagine how difficult that was for you, I'm very sorry for some of the things you had to see. I'll never be able to thank you enough Mr. Potter for what you have given me back."

"Harry." He muttered.

"What was that Mr. Potter?"

"Harry, Lady Malfoy, you may call me Harry. I don't know many godmothers, but shouldn't they call their godson by their first names?"

She hummed happily, "Harry. Yes, I suppose Mr. Potter sounds so very formal. Well then you must call me Narcissa from now on."

Lord Malfoy was very startled. "Godmother, Narcissa? What in the world are you going on about? Did he .."

"Lucius, calm yourself. Trust me dear, go next." She interrupted. "Things will make more sense after."

After a nod so small it was almost missed Harry cast the spell on Lord Malfoy.  _Reconstruct amisit memorias!_

_**...** _

_Lucius on his first day getting sorted, proud to be a Slytherin..._

_Meeting Severus a few moments later when he too was sorted into the same house..._

_The start-up of a friendship with the Gryffindor boys, Lily and Narcissa..._

_Being the first boy out of their group to brave sitting at another house table for a meal, even when other students made fun of him for it..._

_Finding out about the muggle world from Lily and enjoying the things she taught and showed him..._

_Lucius and James asking Lily and Narcissa out on many double dates, bragging to James when he was the first one to get a kiss ..._

_Lucius marrying Narcissa with Lily by her side..._

_Being told by his father he had to join You-Know-Who even if he didn't want to, because that's what a Malfoy did..._

_Going to James, Sirius and Remus after their fathers told him and Severus they would be taking the Dark Mark soon..._

_Making plan after plan to try to get away from their fathers, trying to come up with a way to avoid getting the Dark Mark..._

_James coming up with the idea of going to Albus Dumbledore for help..._

_Feeling relieved when Albus presented them with another option but unhappy when the only option was to be a spy for the Light..._

_Meetings with the Dark Lord and then going back to report everything to Albus, going out on raids and being sick to his stomach at the things he had to do.._

_The joy he felt for his friends James and Lily when they said they would be having their first-born soon..._

_How dreadful he felt for months after being forced to do his first kill, a seven-year old muggle child..._

_Death Eater raids, more killing, the terror of being caught as a spy..._

_Talking about the prophecy with Narcissa and being proud that one day, his son would help stop this madness..._

_**...** _

_Finite Incantatem!_

Harry didn't even pay attention to the conversations around him after ending the spell. Instead he was leaning back, taking deep breaths and trying to calm down. Casting that spell took so much out of him, and he had only done it twice so far, he still had three more to go!

* * *

Professor Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was not having a very good day at all.

First he ran out of his favorite lemon candy, then his favorite neon green and yellow summer robes he wanted to wear that day had yet to be cleaned and returned from the house-elves and finally the devices that he used to monitor Harry Potter and his home broke. He still had no idea what had happened or where the boy had disappeared to.

He had to find the boy and fast before he figured things out. He had worked too hard and for too many years for all of his plans to be ruined now! Harry was seventeen now so there was a very good chance that if he went to the bank certain things might be found out.  _I must head to the bank to see what I can do to stop that damn Potter brat from finding anything out_ , Albus thought to himself as he grabbed a pouch off the side of his desk that had some paperwork he had made just in case he needed them, along with several keys to the Potter vaults before making his way over to the large fireplace behind his desk and walking into the green flames, shouting, "Gringotts front lobby!"

Entering the lobby Albus walked right to the first goblin he saw, not even paying attention to the fact that the bank had a small line and that he was getting a far number of glares from the other witches and wizards he had cut in front of. Even if he did notice, Albus wouldn't have cared since he felt he was more important than any other wizard or witch alive and that every one of them owed him much for keeping the wizarding world safe.

As he pulled out the main Potter vault key and placed it on the counter in front of him he told the goblin, "I want a withdrawal of five thousand galleons from this account."

The goblin looked at the wizard with disdain as he glanced at the key. "I'm sorry Sir, but that vault is currently frozen and no gold can be taken out of it at this time."

Albus put the twinkle back into his eyes and used the grandfather like smile that always got him his way. "I'm sure if you check again you will find that this account is not frozen and I'd like those galleons please."

"I assure you Sir, that vault is indeed closed right now. Is there anything else I can help you with today?"

He was outraged, didn't this goblin know who he was? "I demand to know what is going on with this account."

"The account in question was frozen for an audit. That's all I can tell you, if you want to know more you can make an appointment with the head goblin."

Albus was fuming, how was he supposed to pay for things when the account was frozen? How dare those goblins do this to him! He didn't even bother saying anything more as he turned on his heel and stormed out of the bank, his need to find Harry Potter had just grown greatly.

* * *

After taking some time to recharge, Harry was ready to go so they could get the rest of the memory retrieval out of the way. As he looked around the room he noticed that Lord and Lady Malfoy were sitting close together in one corner of the room talking quietly with each other with Draco standing near them but not really listening to what his parents said. Instead the younger Malfoy was looking right at him, staring at him, examining him like he was a new potion he wanted to break down and figure out. When he caught on that Harry had caught on to the fact that he was being stared at, Draco flushed a lovely shade of pink and glanced down at his feet.

_How magnificent he looks flushed like that, I wonder if he takes on the same shade of pink when aroused_. Harry mentally slapped himself out of that train of thought. Now was not the time to be thinking with his cock. Getting his mind off of Draco, Harry let his eyes drift towards the normally sour potions master Severus Snape. He knew that he should do the memory spell on him next but a small part of him was being childish and wanted to deny helping the man. But to his dismay that childish thinking was squashed almost as fast as he had thought it. _Best get this over with_ , Harry thought.

* * *

Severus Snape had never had an experience like this before, his head was spinning with so much information and his own thoughts. The mask he wore that he worked so hard on over the years to not show his true feelings was slowly slipping, no matter how much he tried to concentrate. This whole thing was like a dream, or a nightmare maybe. It was almost too impossible to believe it was real. But it was and Potter was walking towards him now, no doubt to cast the spell on him next. Severus was nervous and in the deepest parts of him he was able to admit he was also a little scared of what he would remember.  _Well, time to get this over with_ , he thought as he outwardly sneered at Potter as he sat down slightly to his left. There was no words spoken between them, Potter raised an eyebrow at him in question, which Severus answered with a sharp nod. The teen raised his wand towards his temple and cast.  _  
_

Seeing the memories of Lord and Lady Malfoy was nothing like this. This was totally different, instead of only seeing flashes he also saw conversations.

_..._

_Severus pulling many pranks on James and his friends, and helping them plan pranks on other students and teachers..._

_Severus and James actually being really great friends, until years later Albus messed with his memories to make him think that they hated each other and it was only James that played nasty pranks on him to make fun of him, not that it was all great fun for all of them..._

_His friends all falling in love around him and being glad for them, not jealous because he had yet to find someone special..._

_Scared, so scared when his father told him he was to join his Lord's ranks along with Lucius..._

_Playing with his godson Draco and his friends child Harry, the boys loved being together..._

_Being a spy for the light, working in the castle, not really liking being a teacher but it was the only job Albus allowed him to have since he wanted to keep the potions master close to use his skills any time he wished..._

_Severus knocked on the door that lead to the Headmaster's office, wondering what he was being called in for this time. He really hoped it wasn't a potion, he didn't have the time in the upcoming days and weeks to make anything other than the list he was already given a few days earlier. Seeing the door opening for him, he stopped his thinking and walked into the room to stand in front of the desk._

_"Severus my boy, how are you doing? Lemon Drop?" Albus Dumbledore offered._

_"No, thank you. You wished to see me?"_

_"No? Such a shame. No one seems to enjoy these little delights like I do." The headmasters eyes stopped twinkling for the briefest of moments before coming back in full force. "My boy, do you remember that potion we talked about last month?"_

_Severus took a moment to search his mind for the potion he thought the Headmaster might be talking about before he caught on. "Yes, I remember," He sneered out, "I remember telling you that I would not brew it for you since it was almost viewed as a Dark Potion, and I personally wouldn't make a potion that would force someone to have a baby without their knowing, it's a form of rape!"_

_Not willing to let his Potions Master rant more on the subject like he did last month, Albus held up his hand for silence, "No Severus I'm not asking you to brew it for me. I just had a question about it. The male Coegit Fertility Potion does offer the guarantee that the male would conceive within twenty-four hours of taking it, if the male has penetrative sex in that time period. Is this correct?"_

_Thanking Magic herself that he wasn't being made to make the awful potion, Severus replied with a curt nod._

_"Thank you Severus. I already got the potion but I wanted to make sure of the time frame for it."_

_"What? Who made it for you? And what would you even need that particular potion for?" Severus was shocked. One, that someone besides him was able to brew the potion, and two, the fear that the Headmaster was going to use it on someone._

_Albus stroked his beard before answering Severus frantic questions. " I see no harm in letting you know. As for who made it, that would be Miss Granger. And as to why I require it, well for the good of the wizarding world, I think it is best that Harry Potter leaves behind an heir before the final battle so that his line can carry on. When Harry dies at Voldemort's hand, I will make sure that his child is raised properly, so that his child knows of his duties and what is expected of him when he comes of age. Miss Granger let me know that she will be willing to aid me in raising the child, thus giving him a loving mother figure as well. "_

_Severus was appalled listening to what the Headmaster was saying. "Headmaster, you can't be serious. Have you talked to Potter about this? I mean, I personally can't stand the brat but even he doesn't deserve this. Even I know how much he wants his own family, and here you are planning on giving him one without his knowledge and why do you already have plans set for who will raise the child, why make it sound like he won't make it out alive? Speaking of, why on earth would you have Granger raise his kid? Everyone knows they are no longer speaking, Potter would not want his heir raised by her. Why not the wolf or the Lovegood witch? Potter thinks very highly of both of them."_

_"Ah, my dear Severus. How little you really know. I'll let you in on a few secrets. Harry Potter will not live, it must not be allowed. For when he kills Voldemort there is a high chance that he will take all of his power. We can not let someone that strong live, he would be out of control. So one way or another, Harry Potter must die. As for his heir, Miss Granger has let me know who Harry has been sleeping with for the past few months and the boy is from a good light family. No doubt he and Harry will make a very powerful child. The potion has already been slipped to the boy, this morning at breakfast. And no, no one else can raise the child, only I and I alone must have control over the Potter heir. It's the only way to see things done the way I want them and making sure my vision for this world comes to pass. I've worked too long, too hard and have done too much to get nothing out of it." He stopped as he noticed the fury on the potions master face. "I'm sorry Severus, but you can not be allowed to remember any of this. It's for your own good you see. Obliviate!"..._

_**...** _

Calmly, Harry pulled out of his memories. Too calmly. He just stayed seated and kept staring at the potions master. Finally in a surprisingly steady voice he spoke, "When did that conversation take place? Can you tell?"

Severus Snape's mask had fallen completely, he had zero control as the many emotions he was feeling flew across his face. Unable to stop himself, he stood up and exploded.

"What in Merlin's name is that damn old coot thinking?! He can't go around doing things like that, and to students no less! The bloody nerve of him, and.."

Harry put a gentle hand on the normally snarky professor, "Sir, please. Do you know when that conversation was?"

Severus might have cursed the old wizard until he was blue in the face but his brain caught up with him and made him take notice that he wasn't the only person violated. He thought back to the memory, trying to use clothing, objects in the room, anything to find out when it was taken place. Ah! There, that file on the desk!

"Yes Potter, I know when. It was about a month before school let out. I know because the headmaster had a file out on his desk that I had given him a few days earlier and he only had it for 5 days at the most before it was given back to me." Severus turned towards the young man, the young man who for the past few years he had bullied, teased and tormented more than any other student. Only this wasn't just any other student, thanks to the memories he had gotten back he remembered his friendship with James and Lily. This young man was the son of two of his oldest and dearest friends. He would think on that later, right now there was more important topics to discuss.

"Potter, and this is not something I would normal ask about or even care about, but at that time were you involved with anyone? The headmaster didn't tell me who the potion was for, do you know who they might have given it to?"

Harry let out the breath that he had been holding. He could almost laugh he was so giddy with that answer. "A month ago? Well that's good news for me, but bad news for the Headmaster and whoever the potion was given to. I wasn't um, dating anyone at the school then."

He spoke louder so that everyone in the room could hear him, "Look this is all way too much to take in at once and that spell takes so much out of me. I'm in need of a break. Let's sit and talk about that prophecy now, try to figure out the parts we don't know. After I can finish with the memories."

Everyone was in agreement and sat down while Ragnok waved his hand for drinks and snacks to appear.

* * *

A bit further down Diagon Alley from Gringotts was a shop somewhat new to the area but always busy, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, a practical joke shop ran by the brilliant wonder twins - Fred and George Weasley. What started out as a simple owl-post service ran out of their parents home, turned into a dream come true thanks to their great friend and silent partner Harry Potter who gave them the gold he won from the Triwizard Tournament to start up the company.

They were currently sitting in their shop's back room, talking about their younger Gryffindor partner and friend, worried about him and wondering what he was up to. Most likely hung over from the party he had last night no doubt. The twins wanted to go very badly but had been unable to get away from their parents. They didn't like it, but felt a little bit better that they had plans to meet with Harry soon.

Wanting to spy on their friend they pulled out a map the three of them had been working on for the past few months, glad that it was finally up and working properly. The map was an upgrade of the Marauders map, this one covered all of Britain and would show any witch or wizard you keyed into it. Currently they only had a few dozen keyed to the map, but they added more every day. Taking out the map Fred tapped it with his wand saying,"Welcome to the Dark Side, we have pranks." Fred always laughed after saying the words to open the map, Harry came up with it one day after watching some muggle movie. He tried explaining it to the twins, but failed horribly.

"Let's see, let's see. Harry Potter, where are you. Gotcha! George, look at this! It says Harry is here, at the bank. And Remus is with him, along with Luna, Neville, and Snape! I wonder what's going on. Do you think we should go pop over and say hello?"

His twin looked down at the map, looked again and then grabbed it out of his twins hands. Gasping his twin's name out "Fred! Look at what it says for Harry's name! That can't be right, can it?"

Both wizards leaned forward for a closer look and almost dropped the map after seeing  _Harry Potter, heir to Lord Black, Lord Potter, Duke of Gryffindor_ written above Harry's head.


	6. Chapter 6

Walking into the kitchen in Grimmauld Place's and seeing that no one was around, Albus Dumbledore let himself have a few moments to himself so that he could think and try to figure out what the hell was going on.

_Look at what you know so far Albus,_ he told himself,  _Harry is missing from his aunts, you know that for sure, and the wards around the house have been changed._

_There had been a release of some strong magic, but by whom? And then the bank, why did the goblins freeze the vault?_

_I thought only the vault holder could call for an audit, or in extreme cases the goblins themselves could call for one. I doubt Harry knows about all the vaults he has, so it couldn't have been him. That only leaves the goblins. What reason would they have to do an audit? I have to go back and speak with the head goblin first thing in the morning._

Albus was pulled from his thoughts as he sensed others coming into the kitchen. He was slightly upset at not being able to finishing his thinking in peace but thankful that some of the members of the Order were around today, as they had much to discuss.

He stood as Alastor Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt walked over towards him. He was glad both men had hung around the house today, he could use both of their minds and hopefully find some piece that he was missing. Molly and Arthur Weasley along with Bill also came into the kitchen.

"Molly, do you know where the twins are? I wanted to ask them again if maybe Harry wrote them something and maybe it slipped their minds."

"No Albus, I think they are over at the shop today," she replied while trying to rein in her temper at the mention of that forsaken shop. She wanted so much more for her boys, but instead they felt the need to waste their time and money on jokes and pranks. It was a disgrace!

Albus knew what the woman was thinking and was secretly pleased. At least that was going to plan. He didn't think the trouble making twins could be counted on to do what was needed with no questions asked, so in truth he didn't mind that they sometimes missed meetings and were hardly seen around the house. But he wanted to give Molly the idea that he at least cared about her and her family.

"Well it seems that we have a few people here now, so let's get together and see where we stand. Does anyone have anything to report?" Albus questioned, letting everyone start talking if they had something to say. He tried his hardest to keep his mind on the reports he was getting but was failing to do so. He was glad that he had the oldest Weasley, Bill, taking notes on the more important topics and reports that got brought up.

He rudely stopped Arabella Figg, the mostly useless squib that lived near Harry's relatives, from giving her report on the Dursley family. He didn't want the others to hear what she had always suspected about the family and how they treated their nephew.

"Bill, when you go back to work I have a job for you to do. I need you to find out why Harry Potter's vaults have been frozen and who ordered an audit to be done on them. And I want this information back to me by dinner time tomorrow night." He didn't even stop to see if his orders had been heard, but if he did he would have seen Bill's eyes widen in shock and then the thinning of his lips in disapproval. Instead the Headmaster kept giving orders to the others.

"I know it hasn't been long since this morning's emergency meeting but we have to find where Harry is and we must do so quickly before any of Voldemort's followers catch wind that he's missing and try to find him before we can. We cannot let that happen! If I gave you orders this morning to keep watch a certain place, I want you to go back and stay there until you hear word from me saying otherwise. The rest of you, I want you to patrol any area you can think of that a teenage boy might go. Keep your eyes and ears open people, we must find him before it's too late!"

* * *

Those back at the bank had just finished up the light snacks and tea Ragnok had provided for them and were anxious to start talking about the prophecy.

Remus looked at Harry, "Harry, before we begin do you happen to have a spare notebook I can borrow?" Before he even finished the question Harry had taken out a sunken holdall from his pocket and after was unshrinking it.

"Yes Remus, I actually have yours. I packed everything up before leaving, wanting to keep everything on me." He then handed over a brown leather-bound notebook and a muggle pen.

Turning to Luna he held out a bright pink and yellow notebook and a red self inking quill he had also dug out. "Nev, do you want yours?"

"No thanks Harry. If I need them later, I'll let you know." Neville smiled at Harry as he also didn't take his notebook out, knowing that actually none of them really would need to write anything down, Luna and Remus would take perfect notes.

Before anything else could get started Lady Malfoy spoke up, "Excuse me, Harry?"

"Yes, Lady Mal- er Narcissa?" He stopped mid-sentence seeing her glare at him using her title and not name like she had told him to.

"Do you happen to have another one of those and possibly another quill I could use? I would like to keep track as well."

"I have another self inking quill, but I don't have any parchment in here. Would a muggle notebook be alright? I do keep plenty of those on hand for Luna and Remus, they tend to want to document every aspect of their lives, as well as mine." He gave a small yelp as Luna smacked him in the back of the head at his comment and the eye roll he gave after.

"Alright! I was only kidding. Sheesh!"

"A muggle notebook is quite alright with me, thank you for letting me borrow them."

Harry went back into his holdall and got out another self inking quill, this time in green, and another notebook. Handing it over to her, he almost laughed at the regal looking Lady holding a neon orange muggle notebook. "I'm sorry about the color, but that's all I have. I try to pick them up in bright colors when I can find them for Luna." Luna blushed and smiled shyly at his words.

Snape, having gotten part of his normal mask back up sneered, "When will you learn that you are a wizard Mr. Potter and can just conjure or transfigure anything you need is beyond my understanding."

Luna's smile dropped a little and Harry was not about to have that. She smiled less and less these days as it was. He looked his professor in the eyes as he glared at him, "That may be Sir, but Luna likes it when I buy them for her as a surprise instead of just using magic and what Luna likes, I try to do for her. Did you have anything else you wanted to say or can we move on to actual important topics? Of course, if you really wish to, we can sit here and talk about my friendship with my best friend all day, it doesn't bother me at all." He finished angrily, upset that the gentle smile that graced Luna's beautiful face was now gone. He moved closer to the witch and put an arm around her, giving her a half hug while glaring back at Snape.

Not wanting a fight to break out Remus stepped in, "Okay, you two, that's enough. Break it up for now. This is neither the time nor the place. Now, I say we take the prophecy line by line. The first line was,  _ **'**_ _Black and Gryffindor females born in the same month of the same year.' _Hearing your full name Lily, am I correct to assume that this line is about you and Lady Malfoy?"

Lily inclined her head towards the man, "Yes, it is. No doubt you youngsters and you, Remus and Sirius, since you have yet to get your memories back, are all wondering, so I'll explain now. The Gryffindor line has produced nothing but squibs for five generations, I was the first one to be born a witch. Since the line had nothing but squibs, there was no one to carry the title since wizard law prevents squibs from inheriting titles. When I found out I didn't want it to become public knowledge since I had already learned of the prophecy, so I only told a select few."

"Bloody hell Harry! That means you will be Lord Gryffindor when you claim your titles!" Neville exclaimed.

Luna hummed and swung her legs back and forth. "Actually, Neville, that is incorrect."

Lily smiled at the girl, glad his son had made friends with such a gentle soul. "That's right Luna. Care to explain what you have discovered?"

Luna shyly ducked into Harry's shoulder when everyone's eyes swung her way, but was still able to reply. "It is a founding line, making it a Dukedom. Harry is the last wizard of the line until he has his own heir and passes the title on, he is the Duke of Gryffindor."

Upon hearing this Lord Malfoy got a calculating gleam in his eyes as he took in just how powerful Harry will become. Seeing the look on her husband's face that she knew well, Lady Malfoy rushed to get his scheming thoughts derailed.

"While that is very powerful news for Harry, let's not get off the subject here. Lily and I were in fact both born in the same month and year. So that line is taken care of. The start of the next one is obvious as well, but the second one has me partly confused.  _'Will birth sons that will rid us of the two greatest evils the world has ever seen.'_  Well we gave birth to Harry and Draco and only them, so I think it's a safe bet that it's talking about you two boys. But the two greatest evils? I think we can all agree that Voldemort can be counted among the greatest evils but who is the other one?"

Harry knew the answer to that one, but he didn't feel like explaining fully just how he figured it out. His cousin however had no such hesitation, proving that he was in fact paying attention even though for most of the meeting he had his cell phone out and was playing on it. "Well I think that one is easy as well, don't you Harry? It's the Headmaster."

"Mr. Dursley, the Headmaster has done some terrible things, I agree. But what makes you think he would be named as one of the greatest evils?" Lord Malfoy spoke up.

Dudley still had his head down, doing whatever it was that he was doing on his phone while he answered. "Look at the facts. Who drops an infant off at someone's house he has never met before after seeing his parents killed with only a note pinned to his blanket, in the middle of the night no less? Who writes in a letter that they should treat said infant like they are worthless, to not feed him, clothe him, or even give him other basic things a child needs to grow up? What kind of person would go to that house every year to drop off payments and to make sure the child was neglected and not told who he was? Not to mention that he took away all of your memories. I may be just a muggle but even I can see that something is wrong with that picture."

"Well said Duds, thank you that's enough, I think we get it." Harry was embarrassed, that was more information than he wanted out at the moment.

Trying to get his bearings back he took up the next part. "If it's talking about Draco and I, then what about the next line? ' _The sons will be further known by the storm and moon marks upon their bodies.'_  The scar on my forehead can be counted as the storm mark, since it's in the shape of a lightning bolt right? So does he have a moon mark of some sort on his body?"

_And no, I'm not thinking of asking him to strip naked to see for myself. Gosh Harry! Get a grip on yourself, what is wrong with you today? Stop thinking about seeing him naked for Merlin's sake!_

Everyone looked at Draco for the answer. In answer he stood up and took off his outer robe and rolled up the sleeve of his left arm on his white button down shirt. Rolling it up to his elbow, he exposed his arm to the others, showing clearly that he had a moon shaped scar on his arm, near his elbow. "I've had it for as long as I can remember. But I don't recall how I got it, neither do my parents."

Harry wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to what the other boy was saying. His mind was on something totally different.  _His skin is so creamy and looks so soft. Fuck, I just want to touch it, taste it and worship it._

"HARRY!" Remus yelled, he's been trying to get him out of his thoughts for the last few moments. "Pay attention!"

"Sorry Remus, I will." Harry ducked his head while running a hand through his already messy hair.

"As I was saying, the next part also talks about the boys, ' _Both sons will face hardships. Both sons will have others try to control them, to use them'._ We know of Harry's hardships and who is trying to control and use him, but what about Draco?"

Draco and his parents looked at each other, and as one seemed to agree with whatever it was they all were thinking. It was Lord Malfoy who decided to provide the answer.

"Well this has to do with what we wanted to come to talk to Mr. Potter about. Although there are more people around than I had thought would be for this, it no longer matters. Mr. Potter, what do you know about Veela?"

Harry was confused but decided to still answer. "Uh. I know that they have an allure that they can use on people, they have set mates and unlike other magical creatures they don't come into their inheritance at sixteen. Instead they do at seventeen because of something about their magic not settling or something?" He finished off what he knew and looked over to Lord Malfoy who was nodding.

"That is all correct. Veela's get their inheritance later because at seventeen it is believed that most wizard and witches magic has settled the most, meaning the wizard or witch could handle the veela powers more. It is not well known but the first person that sleeps with a Veela after their inheritance, even if it is not their mate, will be the only one to sire that Veela's children for the rest of its life. The Veela can still bond with their mate, but said mate will never have children of their own with that Veela. As you can see it is not something that should be repeated to the general public, so I hope that everyone keeps that information to just us."

"While I think that is terrible, and excuse me for being rude, but what is with the magical creature lesson Sir?"

Narcissa continued with the next part. "Harry, did you know there is a potion that can be used on anyone that has creature blood in them that forces them into their inheritance early, no matter their age?" Horrified that such a potion existed, Harry shook his head no.

"Voldemort ordered Severus to brew the potion two months ago, not telling him who it was for. And you know that being a Death Eater, you can't really say no to his orders. Well after it was ready and given to Voldemort, he called Lucius to him and told him that the potion was for my son, who would be coming into his Veela inheritance at the end of the year. He had plans to, to…Oh I can't! Lucius!" She wailed and flung herself into her husband's arms.

Draco had put his head down when his parents started talking and had yet to look up. Hearing his mother's wail, he used his arms to hug himself and slowly rocked back and forth in his seat.

Remus had put it all together and was sick to his stomach. After all these years the things that Voldemort would do still shocked him. He looked towards the Malfoy's, and seeing them unable to continue now, he did. "Harry, do you understand what Lady Malfoy was getting to?" The teen said no in a small voice. "Draco was made to come into his Veela inheritance early, remember that the first person that had sex with a Veela after would sire their children? Well Voldemort had plans to sire Draco's children in hopes that he would have strong heirs."

"What? No. That's just no, no fucking way!" Harry shot out of his seat in anger. That was revolting. It didn't matter that he didn't get along with the boy in school, he was not about to let anyone be forced to do well,  _that_. "Well that can't happen. That's sick and degrading and disgusting and oh Merlin. Well what do we do now? We can't let that happen!"

"I'm so glad you agree Mr. Potter," their professor drawled out. "To stop that from happening, Draco must bond with his mate."

Harry agreed, "Well, how does a Veela find his or her mate? I don't remember learned about that part."

Draco looked up at Harry who was pacing in front of them and answered himself, "While a Veela is going through their inheritance, they experience a number of things. One of them is that they are shown who their mate is."

"That's great! So you know who your mate is?"

Draco was hesitant but said that he did in fact know who his mate was.

"Well then all we have to do is tell your mate, get you and them bonded right? Easy, crisis averted."

Severus snorted loudly. Could he really be this stupid? "Mr. Potter. Use what little brain you have you stupid child! Lord Malfoy just said that they needed to talk to  _you_ about this. What possible reason would they have to come to you and tell you all of this? I know you are not a complete waste of space and are capable of thinking and coming to conclusions on your own, or are am I wrong?"

Quick as a flash Dudley was up out of his seat to move in front of his cousin, to stand toe to toe with Severus. He grabbed the older man's robes in his fists and pulled him closer to furiously speak right up in face.

"Listen carefully you arsehole. I don't give a shite who are you, lay off my cousin alright? Imagine yourself getting your dead godfather back, having enemies in your home for the night and then coming here to listen to all of this? If all that happened to you, would you still be able to think straight? Not bloody likely! You know I always hear from my cousin that even though you are a snarky bastard, he has much respect for you because of all you have to do and sacrifice. After seeing you, I don't see anything at all worthy of his respect. Acting like this only shows you are so far beneath him that you don't deserve to even lick his shoes you fucking wanker."

While Dudley was telling off their professor, Luna had given him her notebook where she had underlined the next part of the prophecy, _'The year in which another attempts to take the moon unwillingly, the storm must step in and be bound to the moon forever'_

Harry read it over and over in his head a few times until it dawned on him and right as his cousin let go of the potions master he gasped and looked up at the Malfoy family. "It's right here. The next part, 'in which another attempts to take the moon unwillingly, the storm must be bound to the moon'. I'm the storm, he's the moon, and Voldemort asked for the potion which would have taken him unwillingly. It's me isn't it? Oh hell. I'm his mate?!" By the time Harry got to this point, he was almost hysterical.

"Mate? I don't know how to be someone's mate. And what does it mean be bound? Like married? MARRIED? I'm to marry someone I don't even get along with? We hate each other, this is nuts! Bound forever? And of course that means that's it for each of us right? So, let me get this right, now at seventeen I have to bind to one person for the rest of my life or he will no doubt be used, very much without his consent, to give the snake faced bastard children? Well then I have no choice do I? Start the wedding plans, hooray, throw a party, I'm to be bloody married." Harry flopped back down in his chair after his rant, eyes blazing with his anger, no longer having the energy to pace around.

Mostly everyone looked at the young man in concern, but only Luna attempted to talk to him.

She took one of his large hands into both of her smaller ones while she spoke so softly to him that the others could not hear. "Harry, I know this was an enormous bombshell that was just dropped on you but if you calm down and think about it, you'll see it won't be that bad. After all, you already find him attractive and a family of your own is what you very much want is it not? If it's going to happen anyway, why fight it? You could use that energy to fight other things, things that are a better use for your anger."

Thinking on what she said, Harry leaned more towards her seeking comfort, and speaking just as softly said to her, "I do want a family. And I do find him sexy, you know I have for months. But will I be happy with him? Luna, you know I hate to ask you, but can you look and see? Will we be happy? That's all I want to know."

She hummed a little lullaby as she closed her eyes. Shortly after closing them, she opened them back up and a with a stunning smile towards him she said, "Harry, I promise you it will be hard at times, but yes, you two will be very happy." He replied with a dazzling smile that lit up his handsome face.

Seeing him smile, Severus had hoped he was calmer than before and did something he couldn't ever remember doing to a student before. "Mr. Potter, I believe that your cousin does have a good point. Last night and today must have been very emotional for you so it's understandable that you were unable to think as quickly as others. I apologize for my rudeness." By the time he said the last word, everyone was staring at him in awe, so he felt he best not ruin his reputation all the way and added a small sneer.

"Mr. Potter," Lord Malfoy began, "about bonding with my son,

Harry held up a hand to prevent him from saying anything more. "Not to be rude Sir, but any conversation about bonding with your son, should at the very least be started between your son and I privately first. I will tell you that yes, I will bond with him, but only if he is willing. I'm sure that will relieve some of your worries."

Lord Malfoy looked like he wished to say more, but a tug on his hand and a gentle shake of her head from his wife stopped him.

"Right, so that line of the prophecy makes sense now. I will be bound to Draco sometime this year. What's next Remus?"

Remus glanced down at his notes with a sad look in his eyes. Clearing his throat he said, "The next part says, ' _Take heed of the werewolf that calls the storm his own, he and his mate will be among the sons most loyal allies.'_ I am pretty sure I'm the werewolf it mentions, as I have always referred to Harry as one of my pack, my cub. But my, my, m-mate, well I don't think I have one." Remus looked distressed as he said the last part with his head down. Not having a mate was something that had really bothered him in the past 10 years or so. He was starting to think he was one of the very few magical creatures that didn't actually have a mate.

Luna cocked her head to the side while she stared off into space. "I think we should come back to that part in a day or so. It will be understood then."

Knowing how Luna operated Remus didn't say a word to disagree with her, or force the issue at all. Narcissa focused on the young witch with a hawk like gaze. "Well that brings us to the last part now doesn't it?"

She noticed that Remus, Harry and the Longbottom heir all flinched at her words, which only made more sense in her mind.

_"'Protect the storms seer, for if she is lost, then so is all hope._ ' I think you gentlemen know who this part speaks of, don't you?" She looked at Harry in answer first, but he stubbornly set his jaw and looked away, refusing to reply. The Longbottom heir did the same. Lastly she swung her eyes towards Remus.

"Well, is someone going to say something, or do we guess?"

"Harry," Remus began. But the young teen only glared at him and pulled Luna closer to him. "Harry, Luna will be ok. Nothing will happen to her. You three boys will protect her right? She never has to leave your sight if you wish it. It's alright cub."

He wasn't reassured, but Remus was right, he did know that he, Dudley and Neville would all protect Luna, himself to the death if needed. "Fine. Luna is my seer, you all will NOT bother her to use her, nor will you tell anyone. No one touches her. In fact no one should even talk to her. Leave her alone. I promise you, that if you hurt her in any way, you will regret it." He tightened his very progressive hold on her even more as he looked at the others each in turn, his eyes showing promise to what he said.

Luna, still curled up next to Harry clapped her hands and cheerfully asked, "Good, now that we figured out the prophecy Harry, can you go claim your titles now so we can leave? We are still going to go sing later right? You did promise, you know. And you should pick the castle, Lady Malfoy and I will like it the most."

Harry was not at all confused by her cryptic words. He knew that he would understand just when he was supposed to and not a moment before.

"Well I did make a promise to a gal that I just can't break, so does everyone agree about the prophecy, do we have it mostly figured out for now?"

"If Miss Lovegood is to be understood, then the last part we need to figure out, we will in a day or so. So yes, I think that covers it all." Narcissa didn't even look up while she was talking, too busy making a few last moment notes in her notebook.

Harry walked over to where his godfather had been sleeping, and kicked the leg of the armchair he was curled up on. "Oi! Some godfather you are, you slept right through finding out who it is that I'm supposed to bond with and all the other important things. You better suck up to Remus now so you can borrow his notes, because I'm not repeating any of it. Living through it once was enough." He aimed a kick at his godfather's legs in mock anger, but let himself miss.

Sirius looked up at his godson sheepishly. It wasn't his fault he fell asleep when people around him started talking boring stuff. Wait. Bond? He jumped up and grabbed the notebook that Remus was in the middle of writing a thought in.

Scanning it quickly he got to the part about bonds.

He slammed the notebook down and growled deeply, "I don't care if you are my cousin's son, you even think about hurting Harry in any way and I will teach you a thing or two about the Dark Arts that I'm sure even your parents don't know. Do you understand me boy?"

Draco was fast to agree. But then, anyone would if Sirius Black was standing over you, growling and threatening to use the Dark Arts on you. It was a very well-known fact that the Black family knew many Dark Art spells that they kept secret from other families.

And as the heir to the family growing up, Sirius would have been taught many more spells than his brother or cousins.

"Now that you have successfully scared him Siri, it's time to do my inheritance. Do you think you could maybe stop growling long enough to listen in, or are you going to miss that as well?" With a cheeky grin tossed over shoulder at the man, Harry walked over to Ragnok's desk.

"Mr. Potter this will be quite simple. Both your parents and Sirius Black wrote in their wills that they left the bulk of their estates to you. That includes their titles. Technically, as your godfather is, well legally dead and a criminal at the moment, his will still holds. But if I'm correct, you plan on changing both of those quite soon?"

"Yes, I plan on using the memories my father left and freeing my godfather as soon as possible. And then I'll be coming up with some grand way to announce that he is in fact, alive again."

"Yes I thought so. Once taken care of, he will become Lord Black again, the courts will find that since he was behind the veil that he wasn't really dead, thus giving him back the title and naming you the heir to the Black line again. Until then, you are Lord Black, as well as Lord Potter. What your young witch friend mentioned before is also correct. Being the last or the heir of a founding line makes you Duke of said line. It comes with much responsibility and more power than you can dream of I'm sure. We haven't seen a Duke or Duchess of a founding line in many years. I'm sure the news will bring quite the celebration. I have all three rings here, you can pick how you want to wear them, or if you only want to wear some of them."

Harry looked at all of them and pushed the Black ring back. "I don't want to wear that one. My godfather will go back to wearing it shortly."

"That is up to you Mr. Potter, it's your right to not wear it if it is your wish. I shall put it away until he can come and claim it. It is rare that Lordship rings are talked about, but I happen to know what these two will protect you from and do. Do you wish to know, or would you like to find out on your own?"

Harry started laughing at himself, "I'm sure if it was left up to me to figure them out, I would never know."

Allowing a smirk the goblin pushed the Potter Lordship ring forward more. "This is the Potter Lordship ring. It will protect your mind from the strongest of intrusions and is a Portkey to the Potter Manor. You just tap it once and say home in Latin. But I believe that it will only take you and anyone in your family with you, no one else. It is unclear what happens to those not in your family that try to Portkey with you. If I may suggest, you should wear this one on your less dominant hand' middle finger." The young wizard seemed confused, so he helped him out further. "Mr. Potter, what hand do you cast with?"

"Er. Both. But I guess I use my right hand most of the time."

The goblin covered up his shock, since most wizards could only cast with one hand, without missing a beat he made a motion towards his left hand.

"Then I suggest you wear this one on your left hand. While I'm sure the Potter line is more important to you because your father gave it to you, the Gryffindor Lordship ring is going to be more important to the wizarding world, and it is what most will refer to you as. That said, the Gryffindor ring should be placed on the hand you use to shake people's hands, so that is the ring they see first. The Gryffindor ring will also act as a Portkey, but you yourself set the locations. I have instructions in the files I will give you when you leave. It will also protect you from most potions that might get slipped to you. It instantly neutralizes them making them useless. I do have to tell you that once you put this one on, it will be logged at the Ministry. But only that we have a new Duke of Gryffindor, not who actually has the title. That won't come out until someone sees the ring and lets the press know. Any questions?"

Grabbing the rings and shaking his head no, Harry put one ring on and then the other. After the Gryffindor ring landed on his skin and sized itself to fit, it gave off a bright golden light that enveloped Harry briefly before disappearing.

"That was easy. Hey Siri, does this mean you have to call me 'My Lord' now?" He teased his godfather, then ran around the room when the man jumped up, changing into his Animagus form to chase him.

As he passed Luna, he recalled her saying something about a castle.

"Hey Ragnok, it seems that since I am now an adult, I can leave my relatives house. What sort of homes do I have?"

Flipping some parchments around, he handed the wizard a long list. Harry glanced at the moving photos next to each listing, trying to find the one he thought Luna meant. About half way down the list he was positive he had it.

_Oh she was right! Luna is going to love it!_ Giving the list back to the goblin, he pointed at one he wished for. "Could I get a Portkey for all of us to go to there?"

"Of course Mr. Potter, one can be provided for you as soon as you and your group are ready to leave. I almost forgot to tell you. I ordered an audit on your accounts here, meaning that your vaults are frozen. But do not be alarmed, it won't take long. I just wanted to make sure everything is as it should be. If you require any funds in the meantime, just come speak to me and I will handle it."

Excited to go see his new home, he turned to get the others ready to leave. "Right then, you lot, get packed up, let's go!"

Luna tossed her notebook and quill into Harry's holdall and glided over to Narcissa. "My Lady, just you wait, you will love it so much! We will have much fun together in the gardens." Luna smiled up at her and laid a hand softly on her arm, as if to escort her towards Harry. But as soon as she made contact with Lady Malfoy's skin, she froze and stared forward, unblinking.

Seeing what was going to happen, but too slow to stop it, Harry moved towards the females, in case he was needed. "No one touch her!" He snarled to the others, seeing that he was not the only one moving towards them.

Just as Harry reached her, Luna broke out in a small smile, lifted her tiny hand up and cupped Lady Malfoy's cheek. "Do not be so sad my Lady, you shouldn't allow your fears to rule you so. All will be well. After all Harry will make sure of it. Right, Harry?" She turned her gentle smile towards Harry, as always, not taking care to what she was doing or saying.

"Luna! Get over here now and remember what I told you?"

She skipped her way back to Harry, her very best friend, "Yes Harry, you told me not to touch others. But Harry, she was so sad, I couldn't help myself. I just wanted to help. Are you terribly mad at me? I do hope you are not."

"No sweetheart, of course not. I could never be mad at you. I just want to protect you, that is all. Stay close to me alright?"

"Mr. Potter, does she also have the power of empathy as well as being a seer?" Severus asked, without a sneer, nor smirk in sight.

"I'm sure you all are bound to find out sooner or later. Yes. But the same rules apply. She can only handle so much touching before it's too much for her, so please just leave her alone. Now if we are done, can we go now? I've had enough of the bank for one day, no offense Ragnok."

"None taken, Mr. Potter. This rope should be long enough for everyone, just say 'home' when everyone is holding on. I will owl you as soon as we are done with the audit, we will need you to come back in then."

They finished getting ready, putting up all the quills and notebooks as well as closing his mum's sphere for now and putting it carefully into his holdall to put in a safer place later. When everyone was ready they all stepped up to the rope and put one hand on it. Double checking to make sure they didn't leave anyone behind, Harry activated it with a loud 'Home!'

They arrived in beautiful gardens in front of a colossal sized castle. Sirius dropped his jaw in awe. "Pup, where are we?"

"Welcome everyone, to Gryffindor Castle, my new home. I guess it's also the home for some of you'll, at least for the time being."


	7. Chapter 7

Almost as soon as the group felt the small tug of being portkeyed, one of the group started feeling a familiar tingle and knew what was coming. He just hoped he was able to make it to the castle grounds before it started. Closing his eyes, he tried to control his breathing to relax as much as possible. He didn't even open his eyes when he felt his feet touch ground beneath him, nor when his godfather asked where they were. Slowly and painfully he cracked one eye open to answer him before falling to his knees, cradling his head in his hands and started to softly moan.

The Malfoy's, having no idea what was going on, just looked on as some of the others jumped into action. Dudley grabbed his cousin from behind and held onto him tightly, gently rocking him back and forth. Neville grabbed and unshrunk Harry's hold all and was looking in it for something, and Luna was caressing his forehead lovingly, stroking his temples in slow but deep circles, while humming something that was quite soothing to listen to. Severus at least had an idea what was going on, as he could be heard talking to himself under his breath about the stupid dunderhead and not blocking his mind correctly.

While the three teenagers tried to help Harry through it, the raven haired teen could be heard mumbling things like, "Knows they are traitors", "Kill parents on sight, do not harm the boy", and, "Burn their house down, leave nothing behind". As Luna pulled her hands away, they all could see the red, pulsing, swollen curse mark standing out against the boys pale face. It had opened up a bit and dark blood could be seen running down his face before Remus came over with a cloth and wiped it off.

Almost as quickly as they started, the painful moans stopped and Dudley released his hold on him when Harry moved forward to learn on his knees and started retching into the grass. When he was finished Neville cleaned the mess away, handed Harry a glass of water and a headache potion, watching as he downed both of them. 

Clearing his throat, Severus Snape looked down at the teen sitting in the grass with his friends around him and let out a mild glare. "Potter! Have you not been working on clearing your mind and trying to keep it blocked so you don't get any more visions? Or did you forget what happened last time you left your mind open to that mad man?"

It may have been a bit too far to remind the boy that last time he had to watch as his godfather was pushed into the veil, he thought with a slight grimace. But Harry was still too caught up in the vision to give what he said a second thought.

Remus gently asked, "We heard a few things Harry, but what did you see?"

Harry glanced at the Malfoy's, his eyes showing his sorrow. "Lord Malfoy, there is no easy way to tell you this so I'll just jump right in, he knows you came to me. He just gave the order to kill you and Lady Malfoy on sight, but to not harm Draco. He wants Draco brought to him unharmed. He also ordered your manor to be burnt to the ground. I'm so sorry."

Lady Malfoy gasped as she pulled her son closer to her for a hug. Her husband looked at her with concern as he grimly nodded. "Yes, we thought that might happen but figured we would have much more time. We took some necessary precautions, even though we won't be able to save our manor, we did manage to get much of the Malfoy family heirlooms, most of the books in the libraries and as many personal items as we could out and to a safe place. I think even though we knew it would happen, we hoped deep down that we wouldn't lose our home. It's devastating. Am I right to guess that you share some sort of mind link with the Dark Lord somehow with that scar of yours?"

"I know that my parents left you a manor where the three of you can live if you wish to do so, but you are more than welcome to stay here for a while. As for a mind link, well, yes it is something like that. "

Harry turned away from the man, as well as the conversation, to get his first real look at one of his new homes. At first glance the only thought that came to mind was that was so huge! Before he could get another thought in, his mind was suddenly over powered by such a strong force that he was unable to do nothing but accept the information he was being given.

Taking note of his godson's glazed look, Sirius gave a small chuckle. Knowing that most of the others would not know what was going on, he explained. "Harry was just given control of the wards, the first time this is done the new owner gets a basic run down of the home. How many rooms the place has, if anyone is dwelling inside, any creatures that may have taken up residence and where they are located, names of the main house elves, property lines, what kind of wards are surrounding the home and if any are weak, information like that. This may take a few moments. Maybe we should take a seat while we wait."

He conjured seats for everyone, and sat down to wait for Harry to finish so they could head inside to explore his godsons new home. The Gryffindor castle- how exciting!

What felt like mere moments later to Harry, was actually really closer to an hour for the others. Coming out of his slight daze, he looked at the others to find they were all sitting down and staring at him. Starting to blush, he ran his hands through this hair and coughed to clear his throat. "Well that was something! The main house has over a hundred rooms alone! Is anyone up for a tour?"

Hearing a round of agreements, he happily called out loudly for the main house elf. "Jax!"

With a pop a middle-aged looking house elf dressed in black slacks and a crisp white shirt with the Gryffindor crest on the right breast came and stood before them. The house elf looked each of them over and when his eyes landed on Harry he bowed low before greeting him. "Duke Gryffindor! I be's Jax, head house elf for the Gryffindor family. We be's very glad to know that we be having new masters to take care of. Is this being your family Sir?" Jax seemed very happy to have a new master and possibly a family to care for, but also very calm about it all. Harry instantly liked him.

"Hello Jax! I'm Harry Potter. It's nice to meet you." Harry ignored the giggles and groans behind him, he was already aware that his friends thought it was annoying and cute that he always tried to be nice to the house elves. They were the ones that took care of you, and it just made sense to Harry to befriend them. Plus he secretly thought they looked so adorable. "Not all of us will be living here, we still have to figure all that out. But I'm sure you will see most of them from time to time. This is my cousin Dudley Dursley, my friends Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom, my godfather Sirius Black, along with Remus Lupin and Professor Severus Snape. Over there that is Lord Malfoy and his wife, and their son Draco. We would love a short tour, if you are not that busy? And I would like rooms picked out for everyone, so that when they do stay they have their own rooms. I'd like Luna's close to mine, next door if possible."

Jax bobbed his head up and down. "Of course Master Gryffindor, I have the time. And yes, Sir, when we pass through the bedrooms you can assign rooms." He paused and timidly took a fast glance at Luna. "Sir, if you wish it, the master suite has a bedroom connected to it for the masters mistress, would Sir like that to go to your young Lady?"

Harry sputtered and blushed furiously, while Sirius, Neville and Remus laughed loudly at him. "Erm, actually Jax, Luna isn't my um, well you see.." He trailed off and sent a begging look at Luna to help him out.

She let out a musical laugh and knelt in front of the now blushing Jax who was wondering if he already made his master upset at him. Smiling at him, she was fast to reassure him that was not the case, that he master was just embarrassed.

"Actually Jax, I think the connecting bedroom should go to Draco, he and your master are to have a bonding ceremony soon. I still would like a bedroom close to your master though, maybe on the other side of the master suite?"

After Jax told her that would be done, Luna walked closer to Draco so she could speak softly to him. "I'm very sorry. I should not have done that without even asking what you wanted. I didn't mean anything by it; I just thought the two of you might like to be closer while you got to know each other better."

Draco had been rather taken back when the witch offered the room connected to Harry to him, but wasn't going to say anything about it since he was secretly pleased, he liked the plan very much. He did feel bad for the blonde witch in front of him though, she seemed sad that she might have offended him. He gave her a small smile, "It's ok, I don't mind."

Harry also moved closer to Draco, he had to figure out what the other boy wanted before any other plans could be made. "Malf- I mean Draco, is this what you want? I don't want you to be forced into anything."

 _My mate! My mate is standing here, talking to me. Oh my, what do I say? How do I look?_  Draco's inner voice was going nuts but on the outside he tried to be as calm as possible, he wanted to stay as cool as he could for as long as he was able to.

"If I was forced into something, it would be with the Dark Lord, not with you. The Veela inside me sees you as my mate, my other half and the only one that will complete me, so being with you is what I want and need." As he finished Draco looked up at Harry's face to see the taller teen giving him a perfect smile that made him smile in return. He was so focused taking in his mate's smile that he almost missed what he was saying.

"That's good to know. We still have a lot to talk about and work out, but I'm glad that's out of the way. Well then Draco, let's go head on that tour of our new home shall we?"

* * *

As Bill Weasley walked into the bank shortly after leaving the Headquarters, he was pissed. How dare the Headmaster demand that he ask the goblins about someone else's account. It would be a breach of privacy, and that was something most goblins would not even dare to think about doing. You just don't go up and inquire about another's finances, you just didn't. He was standing in the middle of the bank, yelling at the Headmaster in his head when he heard someone calling his name from behind him. Turning he saw two of his brothers wearing twin grins walking up to him.

"Hey Bill!" George exclaimed.

"How have you been old man?" Fred continued.

"You haven't been by the shop in ages."

"We are starting to think you don't love us anymore."

Bill always got a laugh out of how his younger twin brothers spoke and acted.

"Sorry guys, I've just been busy. And mum has been nagging more than normal about not going as often as I could be, so I have been going to Headquarters more often. You'll never believe what the Headmaster is having me do today!"

Without even waiting for the twins to ask, Bill went right into telling them. "He actually told me to talk to the goblins about Harry's account with them, to ask them personal questions about his vaults, and then to report my findings back to him! Can you believe it?!"

The twins gasped.

"No Bill! You had best leave Harry -"

"and his accounts alone -"

"don't even ask about them!"

"That map we made, it showed Harry -"

"was here, not too long ago-"

"and he gained a very -"

"interesting new title."

"Come back to our shop."

"We'll tell you all about it."

Bill knew that it was pointless to ask the goblins anyways, not only would they not tell him anything but it might even cost him his job and he didn't want that. However, he was curious about what his brothers meant by interesting titles so he followed them out of the bank and down to their shop to have a talk with them.

Not long after being shown into the back room of their shop, Bill was being told the story of what the twins saw on the map. Not wanting to believe that the map was telling the truth, Bill cast his own spells on it, to test if something had gone wrong with the making of it. He cast spell after spell but came up empty handed. It was true then, Harry was the new Duke of Gryffindor.

* * *

Following Jax through the castle doors, Harry felt warm, loved, welcomed. He felt like he was finally at home. It was such a great feeling. At one time he thought he felt like that at school, but with all the secrets he had to keep hidden, the friendships he no longer had, and no longer being able to trust the Headmaster, Hogwarts just didn't feel the same anymore. But this, this was home.

Jax showed briefly showed them the kitchens, formal and casual dining areas and a few of the sitting rooms before they made it to the main library. From the moment they stepped inside, Harry knew if Remus was here, and he ever needed to find the man, the library was where he would be. From a glance Draco's way, it also seemed he liked the library very much too. The library was three stories high, had large beautiful stained windows, huge fireplaces with comfortable seating arrangements, tables scattered around along with a few good sized desks. There were books on just about every subject you could think of, and many you might not.

Before they could stop at the first bedroom suite, Harry stopped and asked a question he had wondered about.

"Professor, how long will you be staying for? I'm sure that the Malfoy's would enjoy having you here, but what about the Headmaster?"

"Not to worry Potter. The Headmaster thinks that the Dark Lord has me brewing some potions that will take the rest of summer. I am supposed to check in when possible, but that is all. But if the Dark Lord calls, I will have to go."

"Well then Sir, would you like to stay here? You are more than welcome to."

"If it's no bother, I would. Thank you, Potter."

Harry looked at Remus, "What about you Remus?"

Remus had a slightly crazed grin on his face when he answered. "Well the Headmaster sent me on a mission that he thinks will last a few months, maybe even until November. So I'm staying here with you of course, since it would be pointless to go."

The potions master was curious, he hadn't heard of any mission like that.

"What mission would that be Lupin, and why exactly would it be pointless? If it will help with the war, how could it be pointless?"

Remus shot Harry an amused grin before answering the man. "The Headmaster wanted me to travel and get a few werewolf packs on our side. But it's pointless because most of the werewolf packs have already sworn their alliance to someone and will not be swayed for any promise or anything anyone else can offer them."

Everyone was stunned into silence. Whoever had the majority of the packs on their side, had a huge advantage, werewolves are strong and fast even when it wasn't the full moon.

Sirius was the one that asked what they all wanted to know. "So who does have their alliance?"

With the biggest grin he could ever remember sporting, Remus pointed at Harry. "He does."

Heads whipped around to stare in disbelief. Harry never did like the spotlight on him so he was fast to try to get it directed at someone else. "It's all his fault! I didn't do anything!" He pointed at Remus who was still grinning.

Scowling, Severus told one of them to explain. Harry left it up to Remus.

"Well a month ago, I was out scouting packs to know their location so I could come back later to talk with them. While I was doing that, a few Alpha's from various packs found me and requested a meeting with me. Of course I went. They wanted to know what I was doing so I told them, and out lined a few of the promises Albus had for them. But none of them seemed interested in the slightest. One of them asked me who I served in the war and demanded the truth. Not seeing a way out I told him Harry, my cub. You see they had heard of him, not as the boy who lived, but as the boy who accepted a werewolf and was in his pack. That was what impressed them, not promises that Albus would try to get laws out to better things for them, not the promise of medicine, or things like that. No, a little boy who accepted a werewolf as family impressed them the most. So they said they would pick a side in the war, Harry's side. And that they would only follow his lead, and no others." Swinging an arm around Harry's shoulder, he smiled down at his cub.

Severus couldn't believe it. "Him! They said they would follow his lead? Merlin, if only Albus and the Dark Lord could hear that. They both have tried for years to get the packs under them. The Dark Lord of course has a few, but they are mostly rouges. Well boy, don't screw this up. And I will only say this once- good job, five points to Gryffindor!"

Harry didn't even care that it was summer and the points didn't count, he was amazed since he had never gotten any from him before.

Wanting to get off the topic and get settled in to relax a bit and finally have some time to think about everything that happened in the past day, Harry asked Jax to show them the bedrooms.

"Master Gryffindor, am I correct in guessing that he is a potions teacher? He might like to see the labs you have, and there is a bedroom next to it."

Severus perked up at hearing that. Before the potions master could even ask, Harry told Jax to show him to the potions lab and to let him stay in the bedroom there.

Remus took the suite nearest to the library, with Neville a few doors down. Jax showed Lord and Lady Malfoy to their rooms next, in the next hallway. The hallway with the master suite had a few bedrooms, Draco took the one with the connecting door and Luna took the one on the other side. Across the hall were two more rooms, which Dudley and Sirius took, neither wanting to be very far from Harry. Before leaving them on their own, Jax showed them all how to change the colors of the walls, carpets, and anything else they wished and let them know how to call a house elf, should they need anything. Harry told the others to make themselves at home and went into his rooms alone, he really need some time alone. They made plans to meet up in a few hours at dinner time to eat together. Everyone went off to do different things.

Remus, Sirius and Neville went off to the library. Luna went off to explore the grounds and Dudley followed her, knowing Harry would want someone to keep an eye on her. Draco and his parents also went into their bedrooms. Severus of course, rushed off to find the potions lab, excited to see what the castle had, and what sort of condition it was in.

* * *

While Harry and his group settled in, the Ministry was in an uproar. They had just received notice that a new Duke of Gryffindor had been named and everyone was in a rush to find out who it was and what it meant for them.

A reporter for the Daily Prophet had gone to the Ministry that day for a lunch date with a friend and on the way back from walking her friend to her office, she heard the rumors about the new Duke.

She left in a rush, trying to get back to her own office as fast as she could. She wanted to be the first to tell her editor about the news, hopefully she could also be the one to write the article.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- the song used in this chapter is not mine, it's "Just Give Me A Reason" by P!nk feat. Nate Ruess. The lyrics are used from azlyrics dot com.

Draco really didn't set out to try to eavesdrop, he really didn't. It just happened.

He was wondering around his new rooms, checking out everything when he heard his mate's voice coming from the direction of his bathroom. He went back in it and found out that he could hear right into his mate's rooms. Draco was going to leave, but then he heard his name, so of course he had to stay and find out what his mate was saying about him.

On the other side of the bathroom, Harry had just let Luna into his room. That girl, oh how he adored her. She always knew when he needed to talk. After giving her a small hug, he dragged her over to the black leather oversized couch in front of the unlit fire. Luna sat down, tucked her legs under her and looked into Harry's eyes.

"Ok Harry, talk to me. What are you thinking?"

Harry stretched his long legs out in front of him and put his hands behind his head, interlocking his fingers. He had no idea really where he wanted to start. So he just started from when he found out that Sirius had come back to him. After talking her ear off for a while, Harry finally got to the Draco part of his problem.

"How do I just deal with the fact that Draco bloody Malfoy of all people is destined to be with me? I mean how did they get that so damn wrong? He has been nothing but an utter prat for years, not to mention that he's a snob, he's selfish, stuck up, rude, inconsiderate, and oh yeah, the git has hated me for years. How do you build a relationship on that Luna?"

"Harry, think about it. Can you honestly say that those things are for a fact true about him? How do you know he wasn't putting on an act just like you? While I can admit he can be somewhat selfish and rude, I don't think he is as bad as you make him out to be. Since he first came to your aunt's house he has been none of those things, actually he has been almost nice don't you think?"

"Yeah I guess that's true. But that's not enough. I'd want to be with someone who accepted you and your part in my life, as well as Remus. Can you see a Malfoy accepting you and a werewolf? I can't. And I won't be forced to pick between you and Remus or him. You guys would win every time, prophecy or not."

"Let's not go that far. I don't think he would ask or force you to pick him over your friends and family. We'll worry about it only if it happens okay? You asked about building a relationship with him, maybe it's not as hard as your making it seem. Name some of his good qualities, and let yourself be completely honest."

Harry sat for a few moments in silence and just thought.

"Well he is beautiful, always has been. He's also very intelligent and has very strong family values. The boy has patience out the arse, you are in the year below us so you wouldn't have seen it before, but when Draco is working on a potion it's like nothing else exists. All of his focus is on that potion and nothing else. So he's also dedicated. I think it was Draco's idea to bring back Sirius, his father would have most likely tried to bribe me with money or something. That plan showed compassion, determination, generosity as well as being able to take the initiative. His house values are also ones I see as good- ambition, cunning and resourcefulness."

He paused and gave a wicked grin. "I suppose thinking that he's very fuckable isn't what you meant, but damn if it isn't true. Draco Malfoy might have been the biggest prat in school, but it hasn't stopped me from wanking to the thought of shagging him all over for the past few years."

Luna slapped him on his stomach. "Harry!" she scolded. "I will wash that filthy mouth of yours out! You better hope your bondmate-to-be never finds out what a vulgar man you are. He might be so offended that he flees before you can even bond!" She started squealing when Harry started tickling her.

"How would he find out huh? Do you plan on telling him? I don't think so my dear. Don't forget I know all your dirty little secrets as well my little voyeur. "

Luna sat up and pouted at him. "Ha-rr-rry! That's not fair. You only know that because you wanted to practice that truth charm. It shouldn't count! It's not my fault that when you asked what I thought was the hottest thing, I said watching you and Draco have sex. If anything, it's your fault for always being so horny every time you get within twenty feet of him!"

"You would blame it on me! That's fine, if I wasn't me, I'd want to see that too!"

Luna curled back up on the couch next to Harry, smiling as he put an arm around her. "So, that was a nice list of good things you find in him. Don't you think those things would make for a good foundation for a relationship?"

"How would I know? You know what my so called relationships have been like. If you think so, I'll just agree with you. After all don't you remember? You are my seer, so I'll just sit back and do whatever you direct me to do. Ah yes, that's the life!"

"I may be your seer, but that does not mean I will spend my life looking into yours, just to tell you what clothes to wear that day and how to act in your relationships! You are so lucky that I know you're joking, or I would be very mad at you."

Harry stopped teasing her, she may not be upset with him, but he for sure didn't want to push her too far. For a tiny little thing, she was able to put out more power than you would think in her stinging hexes!

"So I can find some good in Draco. What about the other things I want? Honesty, love, trust? Will he be supportive? Will he be loyal? And then there's the muggle things I have in my life. How is he going to act about those? Can you really see me giving up my phone, laptop, or hell, my karaoke machine? I would be miserable without those. The Malfoy's are well known for their hate of muggles, he's not going to be very understanding about those things. And Merlin! I have a mostly muggle cousin that I'm very close with. In a perfect world I'd want my partner and family to get along. Oh Luna, fuck this. It's not worth it, I can't do this. But I want to help him, and I do owe them for bringing me back Siri. You know about Veela's, tell me if I bond with him, will that be enough to keep him safe? Or would I have to actually live with him?"

Luna felt so sad hearing him. She had already sworn that unless it was really needed, she would not interfere with Harry's relationships. She really wanted to lie to him now. Luna frowned. "You would need to still consummate the bond and the two of you would need to be close for about six months. But yes, after that, you could go your separate ways." There. She didn't lie to him, she just didn't tell him that if Draco got pregnant, Harry would be unable to leave him until after their child found their own mate. She almost hurt not telling him the whole truth, but she really wanted Harry to be happy and knew that Draco would be the one to give him everything he wanted.

"Six months? Well in a castle this big, I guess that wouldn't be too hard."

They sat in comfortable silence for a bit before Harry quietly spoke up again. "Luna, the reason I didn't give back their memories is because it's going to be the hardest isn't it?"

Knowing he meant Sirius and Remus she nodded.

"I'm not doing anything now, and there's some time before dinner. I'm going to get one out of the way now. Who do you think I should do first?"

Luna almost told him to go to his godfather but she picked on someone close by, whose emotions was all over the place.  _Ahha! You little sneak! Well this could work out perfectly._

"Well I think you should go see Remus first, would you like me to go with you? You might need the support."

Harry played right into it. "No thanks Luna, I can do it alone. I'm going to head to the library, I'm sure that's where he will be. Feel free to stay in here if you wish." He dropped a kiss on her head and walked out, intent on making his way to the library.

Draco was overwhelmed with what he just heard. Part of him was so pleased that his mate thought those things of him, but he was also sad that Harry thought it wouldn't be worth it.

_I'll show him I can support him and his friendship with the werewolf! He will see that I approve of his friends and family!_

With that thought, Draco left his room and followed Harry to the library. If Harry needed him, he would be close by.

Harry was right, he found Remus alone in a corner of the library, with a stack of books on the table in front of him. Remus was quick to say yes, he was ready to get his memories back. Neither one of them noticed Draco around the corner as Harry called out clearly,  _Reconstruct amisit memorias!_

_...  
Remus finding out Sirius was his mate when the boys turned 16..._

_Bonding with his mate at 17, proud of his mate..._

_Lily telling Remus that she was going to have a son, and while they wanted to name Siri his godfather, they also wanted Remus to be an important role in their son's life as well. Lily wanted to ensure that Harry would have the best family he could, so she had asked at her last checkup for a small tube of the baby's blood. It wasn't unheard of thankfully, as many parents used the blood for protection spells. But that wasn't what Lily had in mind, as she explained to Remus that she wanted to mix the blood with some from Remus and spread it on the walls in the cell he used to transform in. The wolf would smell the baby's blood mixed in with his and think of the person as family, as a pack member. They would also infuse Harry's blood with some from Remus when he was born. As Harry wouldn't get bit, there was no chance of him transforming himself. It meant that even if for some reason Harry was around any wolf during the full moon, he would be unhurt as the wolf would see Harry as a wolf cub..._

_James telling Remus that if anything happened to them, he wanted Remus to protect Harry from any and all things that could hurt him. James told him he was counting on Remus, as he knew that Remus would never let them down..._

_James and Lily going into hiding, changing it to Peter as their secret keeper when Sirius and Remus let them know they were expecting their first child and no one wanted anything to happen to Siri or the baby if someone was to capture Sirius for information..._

_Sirius laying on a bed with Remus next to him, softly rubbing his belly and talking to the baby inside. Telling the baby all about Harry and how they would be siblings and Harry would be the best big brother ever..._

_Remus going to the store for gifts, coming home to find Albus waiting for him to let him know James and Lily died and Sirius needed to take the blame for it, that it was for the best..._

_Remus telling the man no, that Sirius was pregnant, only for Albus to grin and saying so what as he obliviated the werewolf...  
..._

Harry came out of his head with a scream, shaking and sobbing. Of all the horrible things Albus had done, this one was the worst. To put a man in Azkaban, knowing he was pregnant! That meant. Oh god. The baby! Harry leaned over and threw up, he couldn't take thinking about it any longer.

Draco's heart was breaking, he had no idea what Harry saw but knew that it had to be bad. He stepped forward to try to comfort him but stopped in his tracks when he heard growling, soft at first but slowly getting louder and scarier.

Then the howls started.

Windows started to shake.

Draco glanced at Remus and the anger could almost be seen rolling off of him.

Bones cracking could be heard next, followed by skin ripping, claws tearing at cloth, teeth snapping, all while the terrible howling still went on.

Where Remus was just sitting seconds ago, Draco could now see a large werewolf. The werewolf sat up on his back legs, tilted his head to the sky and let out a heart wrenching, sorrowful howl. As soon as the howl was over, the werewolf jumped over the table, knocking Harry out of the chair he was sitting in. Leaning close to Harry's neck, he sniffed long and deep. Sensing it was his cub he howled some more, and put two of his paws on Harry's chest, not letting him up.

Draco could only watch, terrified and frozen in fear as the werewolf started to lick up Harry's tears. Getting ready to run and get someone, Draco slightly moved. It wasn't much, but it was enough for the werewolf to sense it. The werewolf froze, growling at him. Harry looked to see what the werewolf was looking at and his eyes opened wide as he caught sight of Draco, standing there watching them. Knowing he had to act fast so that the werewolf didn't attack Draco, Harry spoke up.

"Remus, I know you can understand me somewhat. That's Draco, my mate. You won't hurt your cub's mate right? Don't worry, Draco's not here to hurt me."

It seemed to calm the werewolf down a little bit, but he still got off of Harry to pace back and forth between Harry and Draco, not letting him come closer to his cub.

Seconds later it was clear that Draco didn't need to leave to go get help, as the library doors banged open and the others can running in, wands drawn. Seeing a huge werewolf, they all stopped, confused as it wasn't the full moon.

Narcissa was frightened, her baby was just feet away from a werewolf.

Sirius however, recognized that werewolf. He put his wand down and walked carefully closer. When he got a few feet away the werewolf bared his teeth at him threateningly. Confused he reached out as if to pet him, but quickly pulled his hand back when the werewolf actually snapped at him. "Harry, what the hell happened?"

His godson looked up at him and Sirius actually stepped back from the devastating look on his godson's face. He had never, ever seen Harry look like that and he hoped to never see it again.

Harry choked out his godfather's name, sounding as horrible as he felt.

"I-I, I gave him back his memories. And then he transformed! Painful, I saw you, it was horrible, baby, blood, pack member, oh Sirius!" Harry was crying, trying to get the words out to let them know what happened.

The werewolf, seeing that Harry was crying again howled and stopped pacing to go nudge his cub and lick him. He let out a whine when he was unable to sooth his cub. Thinking it was the new persons fault the werewolf went back to pacing in front of his cub, hair raised and kept his teeth bared at the ones he thought was hurting his cub. Sniffing the air the werewolf got confused. The new person smelled of pack as well, but only slightly. And not enough for him to pick him over his cub.

Narcissa called out to her son, "Draco, are you ok?"

Shaken still, Draco managed to answer, "I guess. Harry told him I was his mate, it seems if I don't get any closer I'll be fine. I saw the whole thing, it was so scary. Whatever they unlocked must have been pretty bad, Harry came out screaming and crying and almost instantly Mr. Lupin started to transform."

Sirius looked sadly at his pup and best friend. "Pup, can you tell me what you saw?"

Harry really wanted to, he did. But if he did then he would have an emotional Sirius on his hands as well as a transformed werewolf. That just wasn't good for any of them. So with regret he said no. Sirius was about to tell him that he had to, Harry could tell. He took a few deep breaths before explaining.

"Siri, I can't. If it was too much for Remus to hear, how do you think you will react? Be responsible, we have a transformed werewolf right now, it's something that needs to be taken care of first."

Sirius admitted he did have a point, he would just have to wait to find out. Taking control he turned to the others. "Harry is right. Everyone slowly put your wands away and sit down. Try to stay as calm as you can, do not look the werewolf in the eyes. Just keep your head down." Sirius sat down with the others and waited.

It took a while but the werewolf calmed down enough to lay in front of Harry with his head on his legs. He still wouldn't transform back though, even with Harry telling him it was ok to.

A quarter of an hour later Harry's stomach rumbled, letting the room know he was ready for food. The werewolf also took notice. Harry took fast advantage of that. "Remus, I'm very hungry. You don't want your cub to go without food do you? So let's head down to dinner. But you need to transform back."

That did the trick, in a blink of an eye where the werewolf was, a naked Remus was now curled up near Harry, shaking with his sobs.

Draco took off his robes, quickly passing them to Harry to cover the man with. Harry did, while holding Remus, rocking him and whispering in his ear that it was ok, promising together they would get their revenge.

* * *

Kingsley Shacklebolt was at his desk catching up on paperwork when he heard someone talking about a new Duke of Gryffindor. Feeling that it was something Albus should know, he wrote a quick note to him and sent it off with an office bird.

When Albus read the note, at first he was angry, it was one of the things he had wanted to keep from Harry. But maybe he could spin it in a way that it would look good for him, bring Harry out from where ever he was and back under his control. With that new plan in mind, he made his way to the Daily Prophet to see about letting them know a few things before an evening special edition paper went out.

* * *

Harry wasn't able to fully calm Remus down and he still wouldn't move far from Harry's side, but at least he had some clothes on now. It wasn't quite time for dinner but the group was making their way to one of the more casual eating areas.

Remus knew that if he didn't snap out of it, it would only be that much worse when Sirius found out. Now that he knew the other man was his mate, he knew he had no choice but to be strong for him. And he knew just what he needed if he wanted his mood picked back up.

"Hey Harry.." Remus started and then trailed off, suddenly unsure of his plans. He knew Harry might object to doing it in front of the others.

Slightly bothered by the look on his face and the tone he was using, Harry raised an eyebrow at Remus and waited for him to finish his question.

"You know how you promised a certain witch there would be singing? How about one song before we eat? I think the mood needs to be a bit more cheerful, what do you think?"

Harry groaned and was thinking of a way to get out of it when Luna bounced over.

"He thinks that it's a great idea! Don't you Harry?" Luna gave him her best begging look.

"Damn it Luna. Fine. Get it all ready then, go on." Harry smiled fondly at the girl as she walked away, telling the others to all sit down for a show.

Severus Snape scowled. "A show? What is the meaning of this? Potter! This has your name written all over it."

Remus laid a hand on Harry's arm before he could tell the potions master to shove it.

"Actually Severus, I asked for it. Harry has a certain hobby, one day Luna joined him and we found out that thanks to some of her powers, she can in a way broadcast her own emotions. Since she enjoys it so much and is almost always happy and cheerful, those are the emotions she sends out. Even though he doesn't like to do it in front of many people, I asked them to do it now, as I could use some cheering up. I'm sorry if you don't want to see it. You are more than welcome to head to another room to wait until dinner."

Severus didn't say a word as he sat down next to Lord Malfoy, wondering about broadcasting emotions and what could be done with it.

Dudley and Neville helped Luna set up when she came back with Harry's equipment. Harry stood against a wall with his arms crossed, watching the other teens set it all up with a grimace. Draco made his way over to him. "So, what's all this then?"

A little surprised Draco had come over to talk to him, Harry paused before explaining what everything was. He smirked when Draco asked how it would all work without electricity. "Magic", was all Harry said.

Luna ran over to Harry, her face bright with excitement. "Harry, pretty please?"

Knowing what she was asking, he only asked her what color. When she told him yellow he closed his eyes and concentrated before opening them back up and wiggling his fingers at her.

She giggled as she looked down, pleased with what Harry picked for her. She was now wearing a yellow dress that ended at her knees with layers and layers of tulle with yellow flats. He also pulled her hair up and gave it some curls.

Narcissa was watching the whole thing and when Harry changed Luna's dress for her, she smiled and walked over to tease her newly refound godson.

"Harry, that is amazing. Just where did you find dress styles and how to do a female's hair? You did a lovely job, she looks so beautiful."

Harry mumbled under his breath, still slightly grumpy at what he was being forced into doing.

Luna laughed. "She can't hear you Harry!"

He spoke louder. "I know how to do her hair cause Luna sometimes forgets to do her hair and she gets teased enough as it is at school, so I learned how from a muggle device. It's called a computer and the internet, you can look up all sorts of things. It's also how I learned dress styles and such. She is always bugging me to dress her up, so I try to keep up with anything she might find cute."

Narcissa melted. If Harry did all that for a friend, just think what he would do for her son when they bonded. "Harry that is so sweet of you! You are such a great friend."

Seeing that Dudley and Neville had finished up, he excused himself and Luna from Draco and his mother to walk over to the other two boys. Harry focused on the machine and speakers and pushed his magic towards them, giving them enough power to work.

While Harry was doing that, Luna stepped forward and got everyone's attention. "I know a few of you don't approve of muggle things, but I do hope that you will keep your thoughts to yourself about them. This is Harry's favorite hobby and he is willing to share it with you, so it would be wonderful if you just sat back and enjoyed!"

When Harry had everything powered up and ready he called Luna back over and told her to pick the song. She did, and he groaned at her choice but agreed to it, knowing it was one of her current favorites. He started the music in the background and went to stand next to her. He closed his eyes and kept them closed the whole time, preferring not to watch the others stare at him. The piano notes softly started and Luna got ready.

_Right from the start_   
_You were a thief_   
_You stole my heart_   
_And I your willing victim_   
_I let you see the parts of me_   
_That weren't all that pretty_   
_And with every touch you fixed them_

_Now you've been talking in your sleep, oh, oh_   
_Things you never say to me, oh, oh_   
_Tell me that you've had enough_   
_Of our love, our love_

_Just give me a reason_   
_Just a little bit's enough_   
_Just a second we're not broken just bent_   
_And we can learn to love again_   
_It's in the stars_   
_It's been written in the scars on our hearts_   
_We're not broken just bent_   
_And we can learn to love again_

She paused and then it was Harry's turn to join in.

_I'm sorry I don't understand_   
_Where all of this is coming from_   
_I thought that we were fine_   
_(Oh, we had everything)_   
_Your head is running wild again_   
_My dear we still have everythin'_   
_And it's all in your mind_   
_(Yeah but this is happenin')_

_You've been havin' real bad dreams, oh, oh_   
_You used to lie so close to me, oh, oh_   
_There's nothing more than empty sheets_   
_Between our love, our love_   
_Oh, our love, our love_

_Just give me a reason_   
_Just a little bit's enough_   
_Just a second we're not broken just bent_   
_And we can learn to love again_   
_I never stopped_   
_You're still written in the scars on my heart_   
_You're not broken just bent_   
_And we can learn to love again_

_Oh, tear ducts and rust_   
_I'll fix it for us_   
_We're collecting dust_   
_But our love's enough_   
_You're holding it in_   
_You're pouring a drink_   
_No nothing is as bad as it seems_   
_We'll come clean_

_Just give me a reason_   
_Just a little bit's enough_   
_Just a second we're not broken just bent_   
_And we can learn to love again_   
_It's in the stars_   
_It's been written in the scars on our hearts_   
_That we're not broken just bent_   
_And we can learn to love again_

_Just give me a reason_   
_Just a little bit's enough_   
_Just a second we're not broken just bent_   
_And we can learn to love again_   
_It's in the stars_   
_It's been written in the scars on our hearts_   
_That we're not broken just bent_   
_And we can learn to love again_

_Oh, we can learn to love again_   
_Oh, we can learn to love again_   
_Oh, oh, that we're not broken just bent_   
_And we can learn to love again_

The music came to an end and they stopped signing. It had certainly worked, Luna projected her happy emotions to everyone in the room and everyone was smiling. Even their potions master who hardly smiled. Narcissa got up to go talk to the duo, telling them how much she enjoyed their singing.

Shortly after they made their way into the dinning area Jax had picked for them and sat down to enjoy their meal. They had just settled down with some chocolate cake for dessert when Jax came in.

"Excuse me Sir Master Gryffindor, but an owl from the bank just came with this. It is marked urgent, so I brought it to you right away."

Wondering what the bank might be sending him as they just left them a few hours ago, Harry grabbed what the small house elf was holding out. It was a special edition of the Daily Prophet. Just from reading the headlines alone made him feel such hatred. Oh the gall of that man!

_The boy who lived, our new Duke of Gryffindor?  
Hogworts Headmaster tells all!_

_by April O'Neil_

_This reporter was at the Ministry today when they received word about a new Duke of Gryffindor. Rumors started flying as every witch and wizard speculated on who it was. No one has heard of anyone being in the Gryffindor line in many years! I dug for ages but still had no clue, until I was told that Headmaster Albus Dumbledore had come in with some new information. This is part of what he had to say. To read the whole interview, turn to page 6._

_"The public no longer needs to panic and wonder about who he is. It is none other than our saviour, Harry Potter! It was a shock to him as well, but have no fear, he is learning all he needs to know about managing a Dukedom and will soon come out and greet you all. In the meantime he will be following the correct protocol, he will be picking his royal guard and royal council this week up at the school. If anyone is interested, please come by any time in the next few days and drop your name off in the Great Hall between 8am and 3pm. If your name catches his eye, an owl will be sent out to you with further instructions."_

_Well, it looks like our boy saviour is indeed no longer a boy. Stay tuned, this reporter will keep you updated as the events unfold._

_Boy who lived bio- page 3_   
_Previous Duke of Gryffindor's- page 4_

The article was just the trigger Harry needed, all the stuff he had learned over the past day was more than enough for anyone to crack. And crack Harry did.


	9. Chapter 9

Every dish on the table rattled, some of glassware started cracking, napkins burst into flame, and a fierce magical wind came ripping through the room.

Harry thought of all the lies, the secrets, how the old man took memories from people, used them and didn't care about anything but his view of the greater good.

No more! It was time something was done about him. Albus Dumbledore wanted to play with people's lives did he? Well no more on Harry's watch. No longer could he be able to do just do as he wished without consequences. A plan of sweet vengeance came to mind, slowly calming him down as the room settled. He laid the newspaper down on the table and waved his hand over it, coping it enough times so the others could each have one. He watched in silent glee as one by one everyone in the room soon felt the same anger as him.

"Jax!" Harry called out, glad the house elf had not left yet. "Go into my room and on the table in front of the fire I left out some paperwork. Could you please find me the file with my holdings in it?" Harry called out his thanks as the elf left to do what his master ordered.

Smirking to himself, he quickly made another plan. Glad of his hidden Slytherin side, it would be useful today.

"Lord Malfoy. You want me to bond with your son correct?" At the Lord's nod, he continued.

"But that's not all you want from me is it?" At this Lord Malfoy was too slow to hide his shock.

"You also want my protection from Voldemort. Isn't that right?"

Lord Malfoy swallowed thickly.  _Damn. Nothing to do but answer with the truth._

"Yes, I want to apply to you for sanctuary for myself and my wife."

Harry waved his explanations off. He knew what the man wanted, and he would have offered to protect them no matter what. But Malfoy was a Slytherin and they didn't give or take favours freely. They thought everything came with a price tag. Harry used that.

"You got cleared of all charges from the incident at the DOM correct?"

"Correct. It was proven that someone had poly juiced as me and all charges got dropped."

"I'll give you the sanctuary you ask for, if you come with me right now. I'm in need of your political mind. It will mean showing the public that you are on my side. Are you ready for that?"

Lord Malfoy glanced at his wife, already knowing what she wanted, they had already talked about it and they agreed on what to do if given the chance. Seeing his chance, he took it. He dropped to one knee and held his wand out in front of him with his head bowed.

"Your Grace. I wish to serve you, my wand will be yours to use as you find fit.

I, Lord Lucius Malfoy do swear on Magic herself to promise to always serve you and only you. To protect you from any and all creatures, living or dead. I will love all which you love and shun all which you shun. Nor will I ever, with will or action, through word or deed, do anything which is unpleasing to you. I vow to do only your binding, without question, from this day forth, until you depart from this world, death takes me, or the world ends. On my honor, this I vow, this is swear."

Acting on instinct alone, Harry grabbed his wand and pointed it at Lord Malfoy.

"I take your vow as it is given, freely. I take your wand as it is given, freely. From this day forth, until death takes you, you oath binds you to me and my line. So mote it be."

Lord Malfoy still on his knees, repeated him as magic swirled around them, binding them. "So mote it be."

Not letting the older man up, Harry stood in front of him, looking down at him.

"Lucius, listen to me, you must answer me truthfully. If you lie, it will cost you terrible pain. Do you wish to get rid of the Dark Mark?"

It felt like time stood still as Harry asked that. Severus after hearing it, stopped breathing. Such a thing was almost too impossible to imagine. If the boy could do it, Severus would kiss the ground he walked on.

Lucius was astonished. He had never even thought of it before, never thought of the day that the Dark Mark would no longer be on his arm.

"Is that possible? Could it really be done?"

"I haven't used the spell yet myself, I just recently found it. However, I do know it will work. I found it in the same place that Voldemort found the spell he used to give it to the Death Eaters. I had planned on using it on someone else when and if they wanted it, but haven't had the time yet." Harry locked eyes with Severus across the room as he said this, letting the potions master know just who he meant.

Humbled, that's what Severus was feeling. He had always treated Harry Potter like shit. But the boy still went out of his way to learn a spell that was no doubt dark, for him, for Severus Snape. To save him. He would have to think more on this later, when he had the time.

Lucius hardly needed any time at all to think about his answer. "Yes, I wish to get rid of it."

"Very well. Give me your left arm and pull back your sleeve"

Taking the offered left arm in his hand Harry started hissing, chanting an unknown spell in parseltongue. Lucuis could feel Harry's magic running up and down his forearm, caressing the skin the Dark Mark laid on. Then he felt Harry's magic lightly stab the Dark Mark, over and over until nothing left.

Unable to believe what his eyes told him, Lucius touched his arm, feeling the unmarked skin. It was gone! Nothing was left, you couldn't even tell anything had ever been there.

He looked up at Harry with tears in his eyes. For the rest of his life, whatever Harry asked of him, he would do. Nothing could ever make up for this. He tried to open his mouth to express his thanks, but words escaped him. He didn't know what to say.

Thankfully, Harry seemed to have guessed what he was thinking. He smiled down at him and held out a hand to help him up.

Harry heard Jax come back in the room and took the thick file the house elf was holding out to him. Shuffling the parchments around he quickly found the ones he wanted. Of all the files he had been given he was glad he was most curious about this one and looked at it. He smirked as he thought about what he was about to do.

"Right then. Lucius, we are going out. Go get ready please."

Lucius bowed his head. "Of course Sir. May I ask where are we going?"

Harry scowled. "None of that now. Call me Harry, or if you must Potter." He smirked again. "We are going to a newspapers office to have a little chat with them."

Luna, who was the only one still eating her chocolate cake, spoke without looking up. "Harry, if you're going out are you going to go as you, or the old you? Also, you might want to change. You are a Duke now, you can't go out looking like that if you want to make a statement."

Harry looked down at himself and agreed. He would have to change. But what about his changed appearance? Did he want it out yet?

"I do need to change, thank you for reminding me. But I think it's time everyone else saw the new me. I'll be going just like this."

Luna thought for a moment before turning to Jax. "Jax, could you please go get your Master his dark green robes, his black slacks and the dragon hide boots? Thank you."

"I'm not a child Luna, I can pick out my own clothes you know." Harry complained.

Luna raised her eyebrows at him and stuck her tounge out at him. "Not a child? Then why are you complaining? The green ones look best on you, I've told you that already. Now stop it, here's Jax with your clothes. Go change."

Harry took the clothes, glared at Luna, but did as she commanded. He walked back in moments later looking much better.

Luna giggled reading Draco's emotions. She decided to tease him, and Harry. "I told you the green ones looked good on you Harry, see even Draco agrees with me."

Harry looked over at Draco, who was in fact looking at him with barely disguised lust shining in his eyes. Draco didn't even blush or look away when he felt Harry's eyes on him. Instead he met his gaze straight on, making sure Harry could see just how much he liked the view, making Harry's cock twitch.

Harry dragged his eyes away from Draco, knowing if he didn't, the look in his eyes might make him go right over to him, rip his clothes off, bend him over and fuck him right then and there.

Thankfully, Lucius walked back into the room, dressed and ready to go. But before they could leave Jax called out for them to wait.

"Master Gryiffindor, may I add your crests to your cloak for you Sir?"

"Thank you Jax, that would be wonderful. I do wish you would call me Harry you know."

As Jax added the Potter, Black and Gryffindor crests he smiled. His master was so kind.

"I will try to do so if it pleases you, Master Harry."

Saying good-bye to the others, Harry and Lucius made their way to Diagon Alley and into the building that hosted the Daily Prophet. On the way up to the building Harry quizzed Lucius on a few things that would help him out.

Lucius was sure that Harry had no set plan in mind, but then the young wizard started asking questions and proved that not only did he have a plan, he had a pretty decent grip on what he needed to do tonight. He was glad he was coming along for the ride, he couldn't wait to see the looks on some of the reporters faces. Take this Rita Skeeter!

The Daily Prophet has still open, still had a good number of wizards and witches still hanging around. Harry wasted no time and strolled through the front doors and up to the front desk like he owned the place.

The young witch sitting behind the front desk hardly looked up when they walked in, just asked what they wanted while reading a book. When Harry told her he wished to speak with the Editor, she pointed a finger down the hall and in a bored voice said, "Down that hall, first open door on the left."

Lucius followed Harry down to the room, where they could see a meeting of sort going on. The key topic? Harry himself.

They walked in to a man in front talking.

"Now that we know who the new Duke of Gryffindor is, we need to find out more information. Thanks to Dumbledore, we know that the Duke will be picking his council and guard this week. I want at least two people up at the school every day, take notes on who comes and goes, if anyone talks to the Duke himself, etc. If you see the Duke, take note of what he's wearing, if he's with someone, make sure to note their names and how close they seem. This is the biggest piece of news we have had in years people, make sure you go out and get as much information as possible."

Harry, leaning against the door frame, drawled out. "Or you can simply ask him, instead of relying on stuff that may or may not be true."

Heads swiveled to see who was talking. The man in front had no idea who had walked into his meeting, was just about to ask who he thought he was when one of his newest reporters jumped up.

"Y-Your Grace!" Said Miss April O'Neil while blushing. She almost didn't recognize him, he had changed so much from the last time she had seen a photograph of him. But there really wasn't no mistaking those eyes. No one else had eyes like Harry Potter.

Whispers broke out at her declaration. A few noticed who the Duke was with and started taking notes.

The man in front was staring in astonishment. The new Duke of Gryffindor was standing in his building!

Seeing no open chairs, April O'Neil got up out of hers and offered it to Harry. Harry smiled in thanks and went to sit down, Lucius standing directly behind him.

"Your Grace, welcome to the Daily Prophet. What can we do for you Sir?" The man in charge asked, proud that he didn't stutter.

"You can start by telling me your name and what your job title is."

"Oh yes, of course, my apologies. I'm Barnabas Cuffe, and I'm the editor."

"Are you really? Well then this is wonderful timing. I came here looking for you and I wanted to request a meeting with your staff. What a coincidence to have both things I wanted in one place!"

"You wanted to see me, Your Grace? May I ask why?"

"I wanted to talk to you about slander. More importantly, slander against the person that holds the majority of the shares to your newspaper."

"S-s-slander Sir? I'm afraid I don't know what you mean." Barnabas was stuttering now, and starting to sweat. It was never good when someone this important came in talking about slander.

"Of course you don't." Harry said in a tone that said he thought just the opposite. "Do you know who even holds the majority of the shares?"

Barnabas shook his head, he actually didn't know off hand.

"I suggest you send someone to find out."

Barnabas knew that wasn't really a suggestion, it was an order. So, he sent one of the lowest reporters off to find out.

While they waited different reporters tried talking to Harry but he ignored them all, minus April O'Neil, the young witch that gave him her chair. She didn't ask him anything personal, which he found interesting. Everyone else was fishing for his most deepest secrets and here this witch was talking to him about how wonderful it was that the weather had stayed nice for the past few days, and wished him a happy late birthday.

When the reporter came back with the file of the share-holders, both Harry and Lucius looked up in interest, waiting to take in the reactions everyone gave.

Barnabas took the file from the pale faced reporter but didn't waste time in asking what had them so upset and scared. He didn't have to wait long though, he found out almost as soon as he opened to the first page. Right on top of the share-holders list was Gryffindor with 20%, further down was Potter with 17%. Together that was 37%, quite a bit but not the majority.

Barnabas looked over at Duke Gryffindor, intent on asking who he meant, when he took notice that on the man's cloak was not two crests, but three. The Black crest was also shown! Glancing down at the list in his hand he noted that Black controlled 18%. If the Duke was also from the Black line, that meant, oh Merlin! He had power of 55% of the shares himself! Barnabas had to make sure, it was never good to assume when dealing with someone of greater power than you.

"Your Grace, may I ask who you represent?"

Harry raised an eyebrow and waved his left hand towards the crests that could be clearly seen on his cloak. Harry shared a grin with Lucius when the editor's face paled.

"So, have you figured it out then Mr. Cuffe?"

"Yes, Your Grace. What did you mean about slander? And what did you wish to talk to my staff about?"

"The slander is about me. I noticed that an article was put out tonight about me with certain facts in it. Except just about all of it was false. The only truth your newspaper printed is that I am in fact Duke of Gryffindor. So do you see what my problem is? Tell me Mr. Cuffe, what would happen if I pulled my funding?" Harry leaned back in the chair and got comfortable, making it seem like this was just some random unimportant conversation.

_Oh no! What does he mean that was the only truth? That can't be right! The Headmaster himself came over and gave us those facts!_

"Your Grace, I'm very sorry but maybe you got the wrong newspaper by mistake? We got that information from the Headmaster himself, so it has to be the truth."

Standing so close to him, only April O'Neil and Lucius caught the anger that flashed in Harry's eyes before it was pulled back.

"So you mean to tell me that if I just walked in here and told you that I knew something about someone, but didn't give you any proof, you would print it as truth Mr. Cuffe? I don't think that I want my money backing a business that works like that. Lucius, let's go, I can see my money is wasted here." Harry got up and made it two steps before he was being called to wait.

"Your Grace, wait!"

Turning around Harry figured it would be the editor calling him and he was right.

"Yes Mr. Cuffe?"

"If we made a mistake, we will fix it. There is no need to do anything rash. Please come back and have a seat. Would you like anything to drink?"

Harry inwardly smirked, glad things seemed to be going to plan. He turned down the offer of a drink and went back to sit down and waited to see what the editor would say next.

"Now we had no reason not to trust in the Headmasters words, he is Albus Dumbledore after all."

"I'm not going to sit here and argue that point Mr. Cuffe. I'm here to tell you that your newspaper has in fact, never written the truth about me. You have printed many so called quotes by me and other facts about my life. But you see, this is all interesting because other than at the Tri-Wizard Tournament, I have never given any interviews. Meaning each one of those quotes you printed that I said, was all lies. And even the articles from Rita contained made up stuff thanks to that damn annoying quill of hers. I'm here to tell you now that this will all stop. No longer will you print anything about me without my permission. The next time it happens I will not long pull all my funding but I will also sell my shares for a knut each. Is that clear?" By the end of Harry's speech he was standing, staring down the editor who was shaking the poor man was so scared.

"Yes Your Grace, c-crystal clear Sir."

"Good. I understand that being a Duke will mean my life will become even more popular and everyone is going to want information. But that does not mean you will stalk me, my family or my friends for your articles. Instead, come right to the source. I can't promise that I will always be free when you want, but I will try and fit you in as soon as possible. Providing of course, you do as I say and follow my rules."

Harry paused and took note of everyone in the room, glad he had their attention. "Now would be a good time for one of you to start taking notes. I will not repeat myself." As soon as he finished a dozen ink bottles opened up, quills at the ready.

"Like I said, I will only say this once. Being a Duke will no doubt keep me very busy, so at times I might let others speak for me. As already proven, you all will believe in anyone that comes in here claiming they can speak for me, to stop that from happening later on I will prevent that from happening. If I allow someone to speak for me they will be wearing my crest on either their robe, cloak or shirt. If they are not, then anything they tell you is not approved by me. Did you get that? Only people with my crest."

One of the reporters taking notes raised her hand, Harry nodded at her to ask her question.

"Excuse me Your Grace, but won't anyone be able to put your crest on their clothing?"

"That's a great question. Let's test that shall we? Lucius, step forward please." Harry waited until he did and waved his wand towards his right breast, putting the Gryffindor crest on him. Lucius smiled at him in awe, knowing the huge amount of trust Harry had just put in him. Harry returned the smile before turning back to the room.

"Now, who in here is best at coping? You Sir? Good, come here. Take a good look at the crest and try to copy it onto your clothes."

The man who came up looked oddly at him, but did as he asked. He grabbed his wand, cast the spell to copy, then looked down at his chest, expecting to see it. He was taken back when he did not, and cast again. And again. After four tries he went back to sit down, defeated.

"As you can see, it failed. A founding family crest cannot be copied or spelled onto anything unless someone from that line does it. I am the only one in the Gryffindor line, so only myself can cast it. In case you failed to understand that, that means that only I can give someone the power to speak for me. If a person does not have the crest, they do not have my permission. And do not take any excuses, the person either has the crest or they do not, end of story." He didn't feel that it was any of their business to know that house eves owned by him could also do it. 

April O'Neil was taking notes at a fast pace, she would make sure that she never wrote another article like the one she did on the Duke. She realized her mistake. Hearing that it had gone quiet in the room, she looked up to see that the Duke himself from standing right behind her. He gestured towards her notes and asked, "May I?" As if she would really tell him no.

Harry had noticed the young reporter, out of all of them she was taking the most notes. He also saw her looking up and down at the crest as if she was taking in all the details. Curious he walked over towards her to see and was impressed that she had actually drawn the crest and added a note in huge letters that said 'take no quotes unless has this crest, no exceptions!'

With a small pleased sound he handed the notes back to the girl and looked at the editor.

"Mr. Cuffe, if all of your reporters had the same integrity as this one, your newspaper might run better. But that is just my opinion."

April glowed at his praise, greatly pleased and honored. "Thank you Your Grace."

Mr. Cuffe's head was all over the place, but he knew one thing for sure. If the article didn't have the right information, that not only was slander but quite a lot of people had the wrong ideas. He had to fix that.

"Your Grace. While I take full responsibility for the article, it doesn't change the fact that it already went out with the information that you would be picking your council and guard this week at the school. That means interesting people will be going out of their way to apply only to be let down. Is there any chance you might be willing to give us a statement that we can send out with the correct information?"

Harry grimaced, knowing he was right. He didn't want people wasting their time going up to the school in hopes that he would pick them, only to find out he wasn't even there. He was brought out of his musings by Lucius, who was trying to get his attention. Harry could tell by the gleam in the man's eyes that he had an idea, and that he might not like it. Having no ideas himself, he motioned for Lucius to explain his idea.

Lucius smirked. Either Harry was going to love his idea, or he was going to hate it. But either way, it was a fantastic idea.

"Mr. Cuffe, are you still able to broadcast on the WWN from here?"

Confused the editor said that yes he was.

"Then may I suggest that you send an owl to Hogsmeade, and let them know you have the Duke here and that he is willing to do an on air interview right here, right now."

Shouts and cheers could be heard from the reporters. This was phenomenal, the first interview with the Duke, and it was going to be on air, live from their offices! Then they quieted down as it dawned on them, one of them would be doing the interview. How would their editor pick?

Rita Skeeter felt as one of the reporters that had been there the longest, it was her right to do the interview. She strutted over to her editor, expecting him to tell her to go get ready.

April O'Neil was very happy for the newspaper. She didn't even make a move to join the others in asking for the right to do the interview, she figured that she would just get looked over anyways as a newer reporter. She was still smiling happily when someone sat down next to her.

"Miss O'Neil was it?" At her nod Lucius asked her, "I was wondering if you would do the interview. As you can tell Harry has not had the best experiences with reporters in the past, but he took a liking to you. You might make him feel the most comfortable."

"Me Sir? I don't think that's wise. The newspaper has many other older and better reporters than I. you should ask one of them."

Lucius tapped her notes. "Older? Maybe. Better? That remains to be seen. If you don't wish to do it, just say so."

"If you're sure, then I would be honored."

He smiled at her. She may be young but Harry had obviously seen something he liked in her. "Well then, go get ready. I'll let your editor know."

April jumped up. "Yes Sir! Thank you!"

Lucius made his way to the front of the room where there was still some fighting going on about who would do it. He cleared his throat and waited until he held their attention. "You can stop this mindless fighting now, the interviewer has already been picked and the Duke agrees with me."

He ignored the sounds of protests and went to stand back behind Harry. "Harry, maybe you should call for Jax, have him tell the others to listen in?"

It was a good idea. If nothing else, Luna and Dudley could tease him about it later. "Jax!"

The little house elf popped in right next to his master's knee. "Master Harry, what can I do for you?"

"Jax, could you go back home and tell the others that I am about to do an on air interview on the Wizarding Wireless Network and if they want, to listen in?"

"Oh yes Master Harry, I will go do that right away! And Sir, good luck!" With that, the house elf popped away to go back home.

Mr. Cuffe was waiting a short distance away, wanting to give the Duke some space while he gave the order to his house elf. But when he finished he walked up to him.

"Your Grace, the owl has been sent and they have already sent out a reply. They have already announced it on air that you will go on soon. If you need anything, please let someone know. I'll be just a few rooms down, getting everything set up. When you're ready, come and join us."

* * *

While Harry was trying to calm down over the fact that he was actually going to be on air, Jax had finished getting everyone in the castle in the same sitting room and told them the news. The reactions were mixed. Remus, Sirius, and Narcissa all sported grins, happy that they would witness this remarkable event. Dudley and Neville started to laugh, knowing Harry was most likely freaking out. Luna was proud and Draco was nervous for his mate.

Jax made sure the wireless was loud enough for them all to hear, and moved out of the way to stand near the doorway so he could still listen in. Not surprisingly, his wife Fern came to stand with him.

Static could be heard and then someone came on to announce that the interview was about to start.


	10. Chapter 10

 

_"Good evening, fellow wizards and witches, this is April O'Neil reporting from the Daily Prophet. I'm here with a very special broadcast. Harry Potter, Duke of Gryffindor is about to give his first interview here, live on air with me. I know all of you are just as pleased as I am to be a witness to this remarkable event, so here is the man himself!"_

They could hear someone closing a door and sitting down. Then they heard the news reporter welcome Harry, and his reply of "It's my pleasure to be here Miss O'Neil, may I call you April?"

Luna laughed loudly. "Way to go Harry! Already turning on the charm!"

 

_"Of course Your Grace. Before we begin, I was just slipped a note saying you agreed to also answer questions from our listeners, is that correct?"_

_"Please, call me Harry. Sure, why not? It could be fun."_

_"Well you heard it listeners. If you have a question for the Duke, send in your owls to the Daily Prophet office within the next hour and towards the end of the show we will ask a few of them."_

_"Harry, I have many questions but I find the one that I want to ask the most is what happened to you? Just yesterday I saw a photograph of you that was taken on the last day of school. But here you are looking like a whole new person."_

_"Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Do you like the new me April?"_

_"U-uh-h-uh. Yes. I mean you certainly look very handsome now."_

_"Oh and I didn't before?"_

_"No! That's not what I meant. Oh Merlin. You! You're laughing at me! Oh stop your teasing."_

_"I'm sorry, it was just too easy. Your question is complicated but I will answer it partly. I took the eye correction potion which fixed my vision perfectly. I've also been working out a bit, and as for my height? That was a mix of myself growing and some health potions I took to get in better shape, growing taller was just an added bonus."_

_"Well it has certainly all paid off, you look amazing. So Harry, we just found out you became Duke Gryffindor, but is this something you have always known and have just kept secret?"_

_"Actually, no. It was news to me as well. I went to the bank this morning, wow was it really only this morning? Well as I was saying, I went to the bank this morning for a different matter, and came out with a new title. Honestly, it hasn't sunk in yet. I'm still trying to process it all."_

_"That's understandable, its huge news. Would it be rude of me to ask what side of your family gave you the title?"_

_"Not at all, I'm sure many are wondering that. It seems that my mother, Lily, came from a line of squibs. A line of Gryffindor squibs. I was the first wizard in generations to be born, so the title came to me."_

_"Your mother? That means you are a pureblood? Does that change your views at all against muggleborns or half- bloods?"_

_"Huh. I guess you're right, that does make me a pureblood. No. Blood doesn't matter to me at all. I don't judge a person on that. I actually don't think anyone should be judged based on their parents and their blood. If you cut me and then cut a muggleborn, do we not bleed the same?"_

_"Interesting, but true. We do all bleed the same. Now, there was an article printed this evening about you, and that article caused you to come down here yourself to correct some of the information. Would you repeat the new information for our listeners?"_

_"I can outline it, as I know it will also be printed in tomorrow's paper. You might have read in the newspaper that this week I will be at the school looking for my council and guard. I'm sorry to say that is false. Not only will I not be at the school at all, but the news that I have to pick a council and guard is news to me."_

_"But Harry, how is it news to you? Surely you got told stories as a child about growing up and becoming a guard for a Duke, or having the honour of serving on his council. Every little boy and girl dream of being picked."_

_"I wasn't told any of those stories."_

_"No? I don't understand."_

_"I was raised as a muggle. So maybe you can explain them to me?"_

_"I'm not sure I'm the best person, but I will try not to leave anything out. When one of the founding families has an active Duke, the Duke is supposed to have a council that can offer advice, help, and the like. The council also had a hand in new laws, this part I'm not fully sure of, maybe they sent in new laws to be passed? Previously the council has always been made up of at least two representatives from a few of the magical races like the goblins, werewolves and vampires. It is seen as a very high honour to be picked for the council. Higher even than to be picked for the guard. The Duke's guard was also a mix of representatives, normally each group of magical creatures sent out their best warriors and the guard would be picked from them. It is rumoured that the last Duke of Gryffindor kept his guard at his castle and the sounds of them training every day could be heard clear into Hogsmeade. But no one is clear where Gryffindor Castle is, so that might not even be possible."_

_"Thank you April, you have given me much to think about."_

_"It's my pleasure, glad I could help. Before the history lesson you mentioned you would not be up at the school this week. Could you tell us more about that?"_

_"The information that was printed was false; all of it expect that I am the new Duke of Gryffindor. The information was given without my knowledge or my authority. I have no intentions of being back at the school until it starts back up again in September. Because I don't wish for other false information to be spread about me, I have made it so that only someone with my permission can speak for me. If it doesn't come from someone wearing the Gryffindor crest, then don't trust it."_

_"You forgot to mention that only you can put the crest on someone Harry."_

_"Oh did I? Well that's true. Only someone in a founding family line can spell the crest on someone, and they cannot be forced to do it either. So if you see someone with my crest, know that I personally, and without being forced, gave them my approval to speak for me in all areas."_

_"If I may say so, I think that's a brilliant idea. It should help keep rumours down."_

_"One can only hope April."_

_"Harry, if you won't be picking your council and guard at the school, may I ask what you have planned?"_

_"I need to sit down and make some plans, but I will send an owl to the newspaper when I pick the dates and location I will use. However, in the mean time I wish to let the goblins, werewolves, vampires and any other magical race know that if you wish to send representatives, please do so. Get your groups ready, I want to see your best. But know that if you come, you will be required to take whatever potions are needed to help you keep control; we wouldn't want you to hurt anyone unnecessarily. Keep an eye out for the location and dates that will be printed in the newspaper soon."_

_"You can't be serious. Vampires? Werewolves? But they could be dangerous! Your guard will have to go to school with you, are you sure that would be safe?"_

_"Careful Miss O'Neil, that almost sounds like prejudice to me."_

_"I meant no disrespect, I just…well…I've never met any vampires or werewolves so I guess all I know is from books. Books which say they are dark and terrifying."_

_"I don't want to get into dark and light argument, but I will say this and only this. Every living being has darkness in them. It is up to them to control it. Some of us just need extra help, some by potions, some by just having good friends to lend a hand when needed."_

_"It sounds like you know from personal experience."_

_"I do. As you and the rest of the world know, I lost my parents very young. Shortly after coming into the wizarding world, I found out I had a godfather. Unfortunately he was not with me that long, and when he was taken from me the person that came forward and stepped into the role of a mentor is a werewolf. That werewolf is now someone I don't see myself ever living without; he is one of the most important people in my life. I don't see him as a werewolf. I don't see him as a 'dark creature'. I only see him as family."_

_"A godfather? I'm not sure I knew that. Who was he?"_

_"I'm sorry but I won't be talking about him. I was bitter for a long time over it, it was a horrible time for me, I watched it happen. I'm sure you understand."_

_"I'm so sorry for your loss, of course I understand. How about we talk of relationships? Is there anyone special in your life at the moment?"  
_

* * *

Albus was fuming while he listening to Harry's interview. This was not how things should be going. He had counted on the boy reading the newspaper article and coming to him with questions, questions that Albus could answer while carefully manipulating those he picked into positions in Harry's council and guard. He had already handpicked the perfect wizards and witches that would do his bidding, working to get the laws passed that he needed to mould the world as he saw fit, all while spying on Harry for him. If the boy was saying he wasn't even coming up to the school until the next term started, Albus had no idea how he was to get into the boy's mind to get the location of Gryffindor castle so that he could go and take whatever books he wished from its library, he had heard the rumours that the Gryffindor library was one of the best and wanted to be the first to look over the books to take what he wanted. If he couldn't get Harry to come to him, then maybe he could send someone to Harry and get the location that way. With a new plan in mind, the Headmaster went to send a letter to the youngest Weasley son, instructing him to owl Harry telling him that he wished to come see his friend in his new home.

* * *

Remus was proud of Harry, he was handling the interview better than he thought he would. When he heard Harry talk of his plans on letting other magical races into his council and guard, his pride grew so much for his pup.

Sirius was also feeling pride for his godson, but was also worried about him. He heard what Harry had said about being bitter after watching him fall into the veil. How much of that still lingered? He had to talk to Harry about it, make sure that the boy had no more bitterness in him. He also planned on cornering him as soon as he came home to talk to him about what memories Remus got back, he had noticed that ever since the library the other man had been giving him strange looks and Harry glanced at him a few times in a weird way as well. Something was up and he was going to get to the bottom of it.

Draco was taking in the interview as well, ecstatic over the fact that that was his mate. His mate was strong, kind, handsome, wealthy and would have enough power to make any kind of changes he wanted. He no longer cared what Harry said about only staying with him for six months after they bonded, he would prove to his mate that he could be everything he wanted and that his place was right beside Harry for the rest of their lives.

First thing on his mental list was to find out more about the muggle things Harry seemed to like. Maybe he could ask Harry's cousin, it would kill two owls with one stone as he could learn about things Harry enjoyed doing and get to know his mate's cousin at the same time.

* * *

_"I am happy to say that yes, there is someone special in my life."_

_"I'm sure all the young witches will be devastated to hear that you are off the market Harry. What are you laughing at?"_

_"Actually, I have always been off the market for any witch. Have the rumours not reached the newspaper yet?"_

_"Is that so? I guess I missed that memo. So who is this young lad that has caught your eye?"_

_"I don't think we are quite ready to make things public, you'll have to wait along with everyone else."_

_"I think you of all people should have their privacy, so I won't beg for details. I see my editor is trying to get my attention. It seems we have already been on air for some time now, and they wanted us to finish up soon. How about we take a look at some of these questions that got owled in? This note says that over two hundred questions have been sent in so far, and that our staff just randomly picked some so that hopefully no one will get their feelings hurt if their question isn't asked."_

_"That many? Wow, I didn't expect that. Let's see what kind of questions there are, I'm ready when you are April."_

_"The first one seems easy. This one is from a Rose T. 'What's your favourite food and drink?' is what Rose wants to know."_

_"Oh man, I'm sure when I get home my mentor is going to hit me over the head for this, but my favourite drink is firewhiskey, preferably Ogden's. I also enjoy a good cup of tea, but I am rather picky on how I take it."_

_"Firewhiskey? But you just came of age, such a naughty boy!"_

_"What can I say? I like to live dangerously! For favourite foods, I have to say lamb, roast potatoes and anything with apples in it. Or just plain apples, I think I could eat those all day."_

_"There you go Rose T, thank you for sending in your question dear. Our next question is unsigned, they want to know 'What was your most embarrassing moment so far in life?' This could be fun! By your blush I can tell this is a good one."_

_"Whoever sent that one in, I am mentally hexing your face off right now. It was a few days before the end of last school term and a few of my house mates had been studying a new spell one of their older brothers had told them about. Well I was walking out of the common room to head down to lunch, not really paying attention, when I walked right into the spell. It was an undressing spell, and yes you guessed it, I had all of my clothes spelled off. Of course that's not it, it had to happen on a day when about half my house was also in the common room. I was mortified."_

_"You poor thing, how terrible!_

_"Yes, terrible. I can see by your laughter how terrible you thought it was. What sort of silly question so we have next?"_

_"This one is from Alex S. He wishes to know what you did for your birthday."_

_"Now that is a good question. This year was my favourite birthday yet. I treated myself to a muggle tattoo as a gift to myself, my cousin threw me a party, my two best friends saw me naked, I danced, drank and ate for hours. Oh yes, and I got a very special gift from some unexpected people that I will always be thankful for."_

_"Did you say your best friends saw you naked? And a muggle tattoo, can I see? And what was the gift?"_

_"I did April. Those wankers surprised me. I don't think they meant to see me naked. Well, one of them might have wanted to, she's a bit mental like that. The gift is one I will always treasure, they gave me back something precious that I had thought I lost forever. And sure I can show you the tattoo, hang on."_

_"Merlin. I'm sure our listeners wished they could be seeing this right now. Harry Potter, Duke of Gryffindor is unbuttoning his shirt. Wow, is it hot in here or what?"_

_"Down girl, I'm taken remember?"_

_"Yes, yes, of course I remember, still when it's all on display like that, you can't help but look! That tattoo takes up a large piece of your chest, but it's so pretty. Is that a lily and a wolf? What does it mean?"_

  
_"It's a remembrance tattoo_.  _The lily and stag are for my parents- Lily and James, while the black dog is for my godfather. The wolf is for my last remaining parental figure."_  


_"And the words in the ribbon around them, what do they mean?"_

_"It means that I should remember to live, that I have reasons to keep moving forward. If I don't, then those that have died for me, died for no reason."_

_"Oh Harry, that's beautiful, sad, but so beautiful. You are such a strong young man. You have been through so much, how do you deal with it all?"_

_"Thank you April. I think that a muggle saying sums it up quite well, 'You never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have.' And it is my only choice, I have to be strong. I have too many people watching me to be anything but strong. I refuse to let them see me fail, like I know they are waiting for. I have much to prove, to them and myself."_

_"Impressive and inspiring words. Time is almost up, I think we can fit in one last question. Oh, oh dear me. I don't think I want to ask this one."_

_"What is it? I already told the world about being spelled naked, I doubt anything could be worse than that."_

_"No, let's just pick another one, really it's for the best."_

_"Let me see, come on, hand it over. Thank you. Now let's see what's so bad. It's signed from a caring friend. The friend wants to know.. oh, I see why you wanted to pick another one. No worries, I will answer this one."_

_"Harry, you really don't have to-"_

_"Actually I do. I know this handwriting, I know who sent this in. I have to answer it."_

_"If you feel you must."_

_"This so called caring friend wishes to know if I feel ashamed that I like blokes, if the sin of it is worth it. They also say that they don't understand why won't I do as I'm supposed to and marry a nice girl to have kids with. Lovely, it's always nice to hear your thoughts friend, I almost missed them."_

* * *

Neville sucked in his breath. "She didn't!" he exclaimed. "That girl never knows when to quit."

"Who is that?" Sirius wanted to know who to send a nasty howler to, as well as hex the next time he saw them.

"It's Hermione Granger. She has been telling him what a sin it was since she found out. She thinks it's 'unnatural' and wrong." Neville told him.

"How could she send in a question like that? What was she thinking?" Remus wondered.

Luna answered him. "She has always thought she knew best for Harry, and that she had the right to tell him what to do."

Luna hushed them from saying anything more, Harry was about to answer.

They could hear him grinding his teeth before taking a deep breath.

_"Well friend. I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you. I really don't know how many other ways to explain this to you, I really don't. I tried being nice for the friendship we had, but you know what? We are not friends any longer, we are strangers, strangers with some shared memories. But those memories don't give you the excuse to judge me._

_I would rather be known as an honest sinner, than a lying hypocrite. You claim to be a witch, but yet you can't stop yourself from letting your muggle prejudices show. Here in our world, the wizarding world, the world you say you want to help make better, being gay is not a sin. How can you say you want to make things better and then tell someone that what he is is wrong? You don't have the right to tell someone that how they live their life is wrong. Stop making people feel bad for liking things or people that make them happy._

_As for the comment about doing what I'm supposed to do and marry a girl to have kids? Again, you forget you are in the wizarding world. Men can carry children here. And why is that what I'm supposed to do? Where does it say that? The bottom line is that no matter what you signed this as, you are not my friend. I don't think you actually ever were. You are my year mate in school, and that is not a position that will allow you to try and dictate my life. Get your own life and stay out of mine, it is none of your concern."_

_"Wow Harry. I don't even know what to say to that. What a heinous thing for them to send in, that was not in any way acceptable. I'm so sorry that the questions didn't get screened better."_

_"No need to apologize April, I don't blame you or anyone else, only the person that sent in the question."_

_"It's time to wrap up, our time slot is over with. Thank you Harry for talking with us, and for sharing all the information you have. I look forward to finding out more about your council and guard picking dates, it should be in the newspaper soon right?"_

_"Thank you for having me and for being such an excellent interviewer April! Yes, I will talk it over with a few people and if all works out within the next few days I will release the dates and locations for you to print."_

_"Well listeners, there you have it. Remember, the only people to give out any information on Duke Gryffindor will be wearing his crest. Keep an eye out for those dates! Have a great evening everyone, good night."_

* * *

Harry answered a few more questions the editor had for him, Harry reminded him that he did not want to see any lies printed about him, and that if they had questions, to send an owl. Finally there was no more questions to be asked and it was time to go.

Harry turned to Lucius who had stood by his side the whole time. "Thank you Lucius. Man what a night. Let's go home shall we?"

Harry picked up a good sized stick from the ground, pointed his wand at it and said  _Portus_! He made sure that Lucius also had a hand on it and brought them back home. Grateful that the day was almost over.

* * *

As soon as the interview was over, Severus, Neville, Remus and Sirius all left the room to go do their own thing.

Narcissa gracefully walked over to where her son was sitting, staring off into space and nudged his arm to get his attention. She gave him a wink and told him that on long days, she would great his father with a glass of his favorite drink. She gave him another wink and nudge as he got her hint, and then she walked off to the bedroom she shared with her husband.

Draco got up the courage and asked, "Hey Dudley, could you maybe tell me about some of the muggle things Harry likes? I'd like to know what he's interested in."

Dudley shared a smile with Luna, both glad that Draco seemed to be making an effort.

"Sure I can. Why don't we go up to Harry's room? His laptop is the only one that is able to hold power constantly without him doing anything. I can start by explaining that while we wait for Harry to come home."

"Thank you, I really appreciate it. Can I meet you up there? I want to stop by the study down the hall and see if they have any firewhiskey, I thought maybe Harry might like a glass, that interview was harsh."

"What a great idea Draco! Harry will love that. Come on Dudley, let's head up, Draco will follow us up shortly." Luna said as she dragged Harry's cousin off.

When Draco walked into Harry's room with the drink, he didn't see Luna but Dudley was sitting on his cousin's bed with something in front of him. He looked up and noticed Draco standing in the door way.

"Well don't just stand there, come on in. Luna said she was going to go read in her room and to tell her good night if she didn't see you again. Come sit down, I'm going to introduce you to the wonderful world of the internet."

* * *

Harry and Lucius portkeyed into the front hall and after a short exchange of words, said good night and went to their respective rooms.

Harry made his way through the castle towards his room, taking off his robe and tie as he went. Reaching the wing that had his rooms, he started to untunk and unbutton his white dress shirt, counting the seconds until he could be in his bathroom, getting ready for a hot soak.

When he pushed open his bedroom room, he was not ready for the sight that met his eyes.

Draco Malfoy was sprawled out on his bed, laying on his stomach, with his hair all messed up. But that wasn't even the best part. The best part was that he was laughing, not a fake laugh either. A full out belly laugh that transformed his whole face. If Harry thought he was beautiful before, it was nothing compared to how breathtakingly gorgeous he was right at this moment. All Harry could do was stare, it was such a memorizing site, one he knew he would never forget.

Dudley noticed his cousin walk in and grinned to himself when he saw Harry stop in the middle of the room to stare at the blond laying in his bed. He said good night to the other boys while leaving the room, but neither one heard him.

Draco was still laughing at something on the laptop when he heard a sexy voice start speaking.

"Well this is certainly a nice surprise to come home to, my very own beautiful little Veela, laid out on my bed. Tell me Draco, can I expect this more often?"

Draco shivered shamelessly when Harry dragged out his name, damn he made it sound almost dirty!

"Harry" Draco quickly sat up. "Um…your cousin was just in here, he was showing me your laptop, and there was a funny cat video and…" he trailed off as he took in Harry's disheveled appearance. His robe was off, his tie hung limply in one hand and his shirt was hanging almost all the way open, making his chest and stomach stand out as he breathed in and out deeply, just begging to be touched.

Harry watched as Draco looked over his body, and took a moment to be glad that they at least were attracted to each other, it would make things much easier.

He advanced towards the blond, and his knees almost went out when he reached the blond at seeing Draco lick his lips and look into his eyes. Suddenly Harry didn't care if he was going too fast; it was obvious the other boy wanted him as well.

"Draco" he purred.

"Hmm?" Draco's lust filled eyes kept staring right into his.

"I'm going to kiss you." Harry gave him a few seconds to get up, leave the room, something to say that he didn't want it. But Draco never moved, only licked his lips again. That was all the invitation Harry needed.

He reached forward, taking Draco's face in both of his hands and gently pressed his lips to the blond's. When Draco brought a hand up and touched his bare chest he almost lost it. He pulled himself back a little bit, reminding himself that this was their first kiss. He wanted to make sure the blond would remember it.

Draco was lost as soon as Harry's hands cupped his face. He fell even deeper as Harry slowly starting making love to his mouth. It was the most passionate kiss Draco had ever received. The more Harry explored his lips, the more he wanted. When Harry pulled back slightly Draco moaned and reached up to grab at Harry, dragging him back, moaning again when he slightly nibbled on Draco's bottom lip.

Harry was very much enjoying Draco's lips, and the small moans the boy was giving. He was very much looking forward to finding out what other sounds he made.

The kiss might have got deeper if someone hadn't knocked on the door. Harry gave Draco a few more soft kisses and regrettably pulled away, shooting a death glare at the door.

His godfather was at the door, wanting to know about getting his memories back. Harry said he was really drained and couldn't do it tonight, but promised to do it first thing in the morning. Sirius left happy, glad that he would finally know what was bothering Remus.

When Harry turned back around, he was sad to see that Draco had moved off of the bed and was standing up beside it.

Draco knew that if he didn't leave, they might end up in bed, and he wasn't sure either of them was ready just yet to complete on of the steps to the bond. On shaky legs he went over to Harry, kissed his cheek and said it was best if he went to his own room to sleep.

Unhappily Harry agreed even though he wanted nothing more than to yank the blond back into his bed and never let him leave. But he didn't. He walked Draco to the door that separated their rooms, said good night and wished him sweet dreams.

Both boys had dreams of the other and couldn't wait to see each other the next day.

By the next morning, word of Harry's interview had already reached many of the werewolf packs and vampire covens. Everyone was cautious but enthusiastic about the prospects this gave them.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry that I haven't updated in so long readers! This month has been very busy for me, things are slowing down some but I'm not sure when the next update will come out. Hopefully in a few weeks I can go back to at least updating once a week, and during the summer months when I'll have nothing but free time I expect to update more than that. Thanks for your patience and understanding. :)
> 
> Warnings: This chapter briefly mentions a miscarriage. If you wish to skip it, it's at the end when Harry starts thinking of the memories he gave his godfather back. Just skip the words in italics at the end.

The sun hadn't even started to rise the next morning when Harry made his way down to grab some tea and something light to eat. For most of the night he had slept well, dreaming of Draco. But then his dreams started to turn as he imagined the many things that could go wrong when he gave his godfather back his memories.

He was so nervous that he was only able to drink half of his cup of tea and force down a few bites of his toast. Giving up, Harry left the table and made his way up to his godfathers room, ready to put the last of the memories behind him so that hopefully they could work on healing and moving forward.

* * *

Harry watched as his godfather left his room, wishing that he could take all the hurt he was feeling away. After giving Sirius back his memories, Harry expected him to cry, scream, yell, anything. Instead Sirius gave Harry a hug, told him he loved him, and walked out the door saying he needed some time alone. When Harry stood to follow the man to make sure he was ok, Sirius held up a hand to stop him, promising the younger man that everything was alright.

Harry let him go, vowing to do whatever it took to take down the bastards that hurt his family. He would make sure they bloody well paid if it was the last thing he ever did.

But before he could do that, he needed more information – there was still so much he didn't know. Thankfully, his new home was equipped with a very large library. Eager and ready to get started, he picked up his laptop and went down to the library.

Moments later he was sitting at one of the larger tables in the library, with his laptop in front of him and a list of subjects he thought might be the most important. After taking another look at the list, Harry groaned. This would take ages, he didn't have time…TIME! He thought back to the bank and what his mum had said.

_"A time distortion spell means that for every hour spent in here, only 10 minutes passes outside this room. The goblins can cast the spell for you, for a cost, anytime and anywhere you need it Harry, remember that for later, it will come in handy. "_

He could sure use that now. He quickly wrote a note to Ragnok and asked Jax if he would go give it to the goblin and wait for a response.

* * *

Ragnok, the banks head goblin, was just sitting down to look over some reports when he was told that he had a letter from Duke Gryffindor. Immediately he stood and took the letter from the house elf that was shown in. He rolled the parchment out, reading quickly.  _Ah, so the young Duke plans to learn everything he needs to know, now does he? Well if that's not a good enough reason to ask for more time, then I don't know what is,_ thought Ragnok to himself.

He picked up an empty wooden box on his desk and using some of his goblin magic he wove a spell around it. He then gave it to the house elf.

"Return and give this to your Master with these instructions. Tell him to close off the room he wishes to use, all windows and doors, and then put this box down and tap it with his wand when he wants to start, and then when he is done, have him tap the box again to end the spell. When he was here before he had the normal time spell cast which is that for every hour in the time spell, 10 minutes passed outside, considering what he wishes to do I'm allow him the use of another spell. This spell is that for every day inside the spell, one hour will be passed outside the room. Inform him also this will only work once and is a gift from me, so use it wisely. Please also tell him that if he has any questions or needs further help that I will always be available for him."

"Yes Sir Mister Goblin. I will at once. Thank you on behalf of my Master."

Jax bowed in thanks and left the bank to return home.

Ragnok watched the house elf leave with a smile on his face. He hoped that the wizarding world was ready for their new Duke, because ready or not, he was coming and coming with huge changes that will really shake things up.

Ragnok went back to the reports on his desk. He had to finish looking over these personal files and note his suggestions. The sooner he sends off his picks, the sooner the Goblin Nation could pick who they wanted to send when Duke Gryffindor released the dates for when he would be picking his council and guard.

* * *

When Jax came back to the castle with the small box and how to use it Harry was excited, thinking about all the stuff he could learn in a short amount of time. He figured that he would give himself one week to learn as much as he could and then he would sit down and start planning.

Jax, knowing what his Master was about to do, set about making things easier for him. He set up a special basket that was connected to the kitchens, his Master could send notes with any kind of instruction needed as well as about what sort of food he wished and the kitchen house elves could send it through the connecting basket they had. Jax also set up a small area for his Master to sleep, brought down some clothes and anything else he thought his Master might need and then made sure that the bathroom in the library was well stocked.

After thanking the house elf for everything he had done, Harry said good-bye and that he would see him in seven hours.

Unaware of the two sets of eyes that were watching him, Harry took out his wand, tapped the box and started the time spell.

* * *

The rest of the wizarding world was in chaos. When everyone opened up the morning's post, even those that listened to the on-air interview the night before got a huge shock. There on the front page the headline read:

_**Duke Gryffindor tells all, "Only I can give someone the power to speak for me... either they have the crest or they do not."** _

And under that was a huge photograph of Duke Gryffindor putting his crest on Lord Lucius Malfoy, and Lord Malfoy smiling back at him. Everyone rushed to rapidly read all of the articles, anxious to find out what was going on. They read that no one was able to copy the crest, so if they saw someone with it, it could be trusted as the real thing. The newspaper also had the interview typed out and that got a mix of reviews. Their new Duke really got them thinking when he explained how he thought that everyone has darkness inside them; that really made most people pause and think about it. It helped most of them be more willing to accept the idea that soon more werewolves and vampires would be walking around. It also made them slightly scared for their children and families, but for the moment they took to heart that the Duke said they would have to use whatever potions needed to help them not be a danger.

The news that the Duke was gay also caused an uproar. Some of the young witches that went to school with the young man and had hoped to catch his eye cried over the unfairness of it. But there was still some that even though they heard that he was with someone, they still started dreaming about the day when they could catch the Duke's eye and maybe even hopefully, his heart.

Almost every witch and wizard got angry at the last question, how dare someone send that in? What was that person thinking?! Quite a few dropped their breakfasts and wrote small letters to their Duke, expressing their concern and hopes that he was alright, letting them know what they didn't agree with that person and wished him all the best.

But no one was more angry than Albus Dumbledore. As he read the morning post he got more and more agitated. How could this happen? He had it all under control and now it was slowly slipping from him. He was glad he ordered the youngest Weasley to write Harry and get an invite to see him. Then he could rip the location from the red heads mind, go to the castle himself and do whatever it took to get Harry to do things the way he wanted. He had the potions and spells ready, he just needed to get within a few feet of the damn boy. And it had to happen fast, he really needed to get back into the boys bank accounts, he had people to pay off and he didn't think some of them would wait much longer for their payments.

* * *

Harry stood up and looked down at the table in front of him, glad that the list no longer looked as long. It was still quite a bit to research though, and there was no time like the present to get started. With a sigh he moved over to the large book in the middle of the room that listed all the books in the library, as well as their location. He flipped to the back and trailed his fingers down to Veela. He was so caught up in the amount of different Veela books that he didn't even hear when someone came up behind him.

"I-I, well erm, I could help you with anything you wanted to know about Veelas." A quiet voice spoke up.

Harry spun quickly, one hand going up to his heart, his eyes went wide and he was gasping as he tried to catch his breath.

"You scared me shitless! What are you even doing in here?"

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to scare you. I was already in here, you and Jax didn't do a very good job of checking the place out. When I heard what you wanted to do, I stayed. I thought maybe I could help you. I'm good at research you know."

Harry was of two minds. On one hand, he was a little upset that the other boy was here with him. Harry had hoped to also take some of this week to go over everything that had happened and deal with it, his own way- alone. But, however, he couldn't end the time spell and have him leave since the spell was only to be used this once. And he did make a great point, he was pretty smart and having another brain would only help.

"I have to be honest Draco, I had wanted to spend some time alone and also think about things, the past few days have been an emotional wreck. But I'll look on the bright side of things, you are brilliant and I could use the help. Plus we can spend some time getting used to each other."

Draco smiled at Harry, pleased that he wasn't going to end the time spell. He was going to get to spend a whole week alone with his mate! He was so excited. He stayed behind knowing he could help his mate, so even though right now he would rather drag Harry off for a snog, he got down to business.

"That sounds great Harry. Can I look at the list of subjects you want to research? I think we can get started and maybe during breaks talk and get to know each other more. How about it?"

"Sounds good to me!" Harry agreed while handing over his list.

Draco read over the list, his eyebrows going higher and higher the further he got. He wasn't at all surprised to see Veelas listed, bonding ceremonies or founding family councils and guards. However, he was a little surprised to also see wizard laws, wizard traditions, Hogwarts rules, and many other topics listed.

"Sweet Merlin Harry, you have so much to learn." Draco teased Harry but followed him to grab some books so they could get started.

A few hours went by before the boys felt like they needed their first break. After asking Draco if he was hungry, Harry wrote a quick note requesting some lunch for the two of them and dropped it in the basket.

While waiting the boys went over what they learned so far about the past Duke's council and the things they accomplished. It was pretty exciting stuff to learn. Harry voiced his next thought out loud, "Hey Draco, do you think we could find any books that talked about Godric Gryffindor and what his council did? He was one of the four founders, I bet he had loads of smart ideas."

Both boys got the scare of their lifetime when another person spoke up behind them.

"Or instead of looking for books on the subject, you could ask him yourself. I swear, is this what my line has become? It makes me worried for my future descendants. Are you both so blind that you haven't noticed me yet? I'm only a huge 6 foot painting just feet away from you."

Harry turned to look at the painting that was just moments before was mostly empty. He squeaked and pointed at the man. "What? How did you get here?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Honestly Harry! Obviously he has more than one painting and is just messing with us. Hello Sir, I'm Draco Malfoy."

The man in the painting looked Draco over. "Hm. A male with blond hair and yet you don't have green eyes. It's safe to say that you are not of my blood."

"No Sir, that would be me. I'm Harry Potter. Draco is my, well I guess I'm actually his mate."

"I'm sure you already guessed it, but I'm Godric Gryffindor. Your mate was correct young Harry, I have other paintings in and out of the castle. I come to this painting every so often to see what is going on in here. That basket over there is glowing, I don't want to stop you from eating. Why don't you get your lunch and bring it over here? I'll answer some of your questions."

In their excitement to get back and actually talk to one of the founders, the young men rushed over to grab the food, almost tripping over each other in the process. They quickly fixed their plates and went back to sit in front of the painting.

Godric smiled down at them, enjoying how eager they seemed to talk to him. It had been many years since he had last spoke to someone of his blood, he couldn't wait to hear more about this young Harry.

"So young Harry, why don't you tell me about yourself?"

They talked late into the night, Harry told Godric all about his life and everything that had happened up until now.

Godric was livid at some of the things Harry told him. How dare someone mistreat someone of HIS bloodline. Oh he wished he wasn't a painting, the chaos he would start. But wait. He could still cause chaos. He smirked at the two in front of him, and laughed when they both looked weary at his smirk.

Harry almost didn't want to ask what Godric was thinking, that smirk looked devious, but he did anyway.

"Godric, what are you thinking?"

"Well my young heir, I was just thinking of the chaos I could cause people for harming one of mine, if only I wasn't in a painting. But then I thought, it doesn't matter if I am or not."

"It doesn't?" Harry asked.

"Not at all. I can still cause chaos from here. I may be in a painting, but you two are not. I will simply guide you two and teach you all you need to know."

It was almost unbelievable. Harry and Draco both sat in silence for a few moments just letting that sentence repeat in their minds. Godric Gryffindor himself, one of the founding four, was going to guide and teach them. It was astounding.

Godric chuckled at the looks they had. "Boys, while I would love to get started tonight, it is getting late. Why don't you go get some rest and we will start fresh tomorrow morning."

Harry sat up with a jolt and took notice of the time, to his amazement, they had talked right into the night.

"Good night Sir, see you in the morning." Both boys said their good byes and walked over to the area Jax had made for Harry to sleep in.

Seeing the one bed Harry remembered that Jax had no idea Draco had been in the library as well. Trying to control the images in his head that started as soon as he thought about Draco in that bed, he turned around and grabbed the closet chair.

"You can have that bed, I'll transfigure this into another bed for me. We could go bug the house elves for some clothes for you but it's getting late, would you be ok with wearing something of mine for tonight?"

Draco's brain had shut off. He would be sleeping right next to Harry? Would he mind wearing his mate's clothes? Of course he didn't mind!

Draco didn't let any of his inner thoughts show on his face, or at least he hoped they didn't show. "We shouldn't bother them this late, I don't mind wearing something of yours."

Harry tossed him a pair of green cotton pajama pants and a plain black shirt. "Sorry it's not silk or whatever your used to. You can use the bathroom first."

Draco clutched the clothes to his chest and refrained from bringing the clothes up to his face to smell them and see if they smelled like Harry. Instead he thanked him and want into the bathroom to get ready for bed. When he came out he noticed that Harry had put the bed he transfigured a few feet away from his and had similar bedding, black with silver swirls and circles.

Seeing that Draco was done, Harry grabbed some night clothes for himself and went into the bathroom himself. Draco was already in bed when Harry came out, so he made his way to his own bed and called out nox to the room so all the lights would turn off.

Neither said anything to the other and shortly Harry started to feel himself slowly drift into sleep and just as he was at the edge between asleep and awake, Draco's voice brought him back fully awake.

"Hey Harry, I've been wondering something."

"Hmm, what's that?" Harry mumbled.

"Growing up how you did, how are you friends with your cousin now? He was a right git to you, what happened to make you forgive him?"

At the serious question Harry opened his eyes and cleared his throat, pushing sleep to the back of his mind.

"He was a git, but that was mostly his father's doing. His dad pushed him to hate me, and it started when Dudley was very young so his mind was easily moulded to hate me. It all changed when I was attacked by dementors two years ago and Dudley just happened to be with me at the time. He's family so what choice did I have except to save him, you know? Afterwards he changed, I guess almost having your soul sucked out can do that to a person. I think what really helped us get closer was one day we were hanging around the park near our house when this gay couple walked by holding hands. He remarked that he wishes he could be that free with who he was, and I replied that I wished the same. It was a shock to both of us when we realized what we said out loud and who we said it in front of. Then catching on even more, we caught on that the other was gay as well and that was just another thing we could talk about and bond over."

There was silence from the blond while he took in what Harry said. He was glad for him that he did have some family that he was close to, but some of him still hated what he had learned of his childhood and how he was treated. He wanted to offer that his mate could talk to him about it if he wished, except he figured it might not be a good topic to bring up just yet. However, he still wanted to learn whatever he could about his mate. So he asked a question he thought might be the easiest.

"How did you become friends with Luna and Neville? I don't really know much about either one and it surprises me that you picked those two as your best friends."

Harry chuckled. "Neville might not be the best at potions, flying and a few other things but he is a great person to have around when you need someone to talk. Ron and I had fought for days before one night it finally came to a head. He announced in front of almost our whole house that he wasn't going to sleep in the same room as me anymore because he didn't want to have to fight off any advances should I come on to him. Which was a laugh, not only was he not my type but he was a friend, or so I thought. So everyone laughed and Ron teased and taunted me some more until I was about to snap, and then in comes Neville. He was swinging his hips in such an exaggerated way and came over to me, leaned over and said 'Harry, don't worry mate, you can check out my arse any time you feel like it.' Not only did he show me he could care less who I fancied, but he let me know that when the others turned against me, he was still there. He's been by my side ever since."

Draco was amused, who knew Longbottom could be so funny. He let himself have a small laugh to himself as he listened to what Harry said about Luna.

"Luna, she has just been always around. She went with us to the DOM the night I lost, when Sirius, you know. When we went back to the castle she stayed by my side making sure I was ok, forcing me to eat, just being there, being my rock. It's been rough since then and she's been the one to take care of me. When I went back to my aunt and uncle's for the summer, she's the one that sent me nutrient and other potions to make sure I stayed as healthy as I could. I felt better when we went back to school and after seeing how others treated her, it was my turn to protect her and make sure she was alright. She didn't care about my fame like Ron, didn't try and boss me around like Hermione, instead she was just cared for me with unwavering strength and love. I know I probably depend on her too much, but it's been hard not to. I'll miss her and Neville so much when they leave. This summer is going to be so life changing and I can't believe that Luna won't be here for any of it."

Harry looked so down that Draco wanted nothing more than to go over and hug him. Instead as he was yawning he asked, "Why are they leaving?"

Harry answered Draco's yawn with one of his own before replying. "Luna is leaving to go on a magical creature hunt with her father and won't be back until a few days before school. And Neville has to go back to his house, he has his own duties as the new Lord Longbottom to deal with. He only came because it was my birthday and because he needed a few days of quiet alone time to get over a recent breakup. It left him devastated, that's why he's been mostly in the gardens and library. The plants and books make him feel more at peace than any person could."

Draco really wanted to spend all night talking but his body protested loudly at that, letting out very big yawns.

"Draco, go to sleep. We have the rest of our lives to talk."

Draco beamed. "We do, don't we. Good night Harry." Draco rolled over and let sleep claim him, missing Harry whispering, "Good night Draco."

Harry was unable to fall asleep, now that he was awake again his mind wouldn't shut down. Over and over again in his mind he could see his godfather's back as he walked out of the room after getting his memories back. He didn't know how Sirius didn't go on a killing spree afterwards, Merlin knows that Harry wanted to. With a sigh he laid back thinking about some of the memories.

_...  
Sirius and Remus bonding, both so happy and in love..._

_Remus coming home to tell Sirius all about Harry becoming one of their pack, so excited to have the little one as their cub..._

_Sirius feeling bad about turning down the role of secret keeper, but Remus put his foot down, he did not want any harm to come to his husband and unborn baby..._

_Remus going out to get a few things, leaving Sirius at home napping. Sirius woke up to find himself at wand point and told to get up, follow the man. Sirius, scared for his baby went and was portkeyed to some unknown run down house.  
Albus himself came in with a few others, right away he started asking Sirius all kinds of questions. Where did Lily and James keep their vault keys, who was secret keeper, who would get Harry if something happened to Lily and James, on and on the questions went, confusing Sirius..._

_Days went by with Sirius locked in that room, some days only given a cup of water and a single slice of bread. Albus came and went, never staying for long. Finally he came back and told Sirius that Lily and James had been killed the night before, and Harry had gone missing..._

_Sirius wept for his friends, his godson, his husband. But Albus wasn't done. He pulled Sirius up by his hair and snarled in his face._

_"Did I tell you the best news Sirius Black? It was you that did it. Or well, maybe not, but that is what the world shall believe. Now the only thing left to do make sure you rot in jail for the rest of your life, I can't have you out and in Harry's life. I need to be the only one in control of him."_

_Sirius screamed. This could not be happening to him. His pup! They wanted to keep him from his godson, the child of his closest friends. NO! They would not. Sirius bucked his head up, catching Albus in the chin, causing the old wizard to bleed._

_Albus stood back, eyes cold with his rage, told the men with him to get him ready to be transported to Azkaban and to spell Sirius to silence, explaining that he didn't want him to tell anyone what Albus had done..._

_A week later Sirius woke in the prisons medical ward, and was told that they tried their best but his body was under so much stress that he lost the baby..._

_It took three years for Albus to go visit Sirius Black in his dirty, tiny cell. Three years of remembering, every single moment of every single day, what it felt like to have his baby inside him one moment and gone the next. Dead inside, that's how Sirius felt. Dead and numb until the day Albus came and told him that he had enjoyed watching the proud Sirius Black break, watching his mind leave him. He then leaned over and whispered that he had made Remus forget about marrying him, as well as forgetting that their was even ever a baby. That was all it took for Sirius to break completely As he screamed his husband's name, Albus obliviated him of the memories he wanted erased. And he stayed locked up until he saw the photograph of Peter and had to get out to protect Harry..._

_..._

Harry cried himself to sleep, never knowing that soft hands rubbed his back, soothing him with his hands and soft words when he cried out his godfathers name in his sleep.


End file.
